Harriet Harman stood in for Gordon Brown once again today at PMQs. This is becoming an increasingly frequent occurrence, as a consequence of the Prime Minister’s equally frequent absences abroad. No doubt things will calm down after the G20.
William Hague again deputised for David Cameron. He pressed the leader of the House repeatedly on the issue of whether or not she agreed with Mervyn King’s bleak assessment of the economy, but answer came there none, Harriet preferring to bang on about the Conservative inheritance tax proposals.
William persevered, in his inimitable way:
Mr. Hague: The question was about the Governor of the Bank of England. I know that inheritance may preoccupy the niece of the Countess of Longford, but it is no good attacking our policy, which is to reward people who have saved hard and worked hard all their life, and which, when we announced it, the Government tried to copy. Let us be very clear what the Governor of the Bank of England said:
“I think the fiscal position in the UK is not one where we could…engage in another significant round of fiscal expansion”.
The question to the Leader of the House today is whether she agrees with the Governor of the Bank of England-yes or no?
No joy, however; Harriet was reading from a script and sticking rigidly to her lines. She had been told to deflect the attack by going on ad nauseam about IHT and, dammit, that was exactly what she was going to do.
William, however, had the funniest line of the day, which left Members on both sides chuckling:
Mr. Hague: My party called for a national loan guarantee scheme all the way back in November and the Government have dithered about it ever since. They are all over the place. The Prime Minister is on his way to Chile. The Business Secretary has just arrived in Brazil. Should he not be implementing those schemes instead of unpacking his Speedos on a Latin American beach?
“ Speedos”. Bullseye, William.
