12 Comments

• Jo Anglezarke 8th Jan '08 - 10:53pm

  Low key & safe

• Jim 8th Jan '08 - 11:01pm

  Yes I imagine he’ll go for a low-key question either on foreign affairs, or for a nice ‘consensus building’ question about party funding or something like that.

• Mark Littlewood 8th Jan '08 - 11:09pm

  My recommendation would be:

  (preamble: acknowledge and lament deaths of British service people in Iraq and Afghanistan)

  1. “Senator Barack Obama of Illinois yesterday described the Iraq war as a catastrophe, a disaster and an international disgrace which has blighted the reputation of the free world*, does the Prime Minister agree with him?”

  (the PM will neither agree nor disagree with Senator Obama’s statement. He will welcome Nick as leader but may well make some snide remarks about him being the 12th LibDem leader in 5 weeks; hope you last longer than your predecessor; LibDem leaders seem to last less and less long etc etc)

  2. “Well, I’m grateful to the Prime Minister for his warm welcome. But he will agree that the lives of our servicemen are more important than any of our fleeting political careers. If Senator Obama is indeed elected as US President this November, the United States policy in Iraq will change immediately. What provisions have the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign and Commonwealth office made for this eventuality?”

  *note: I don’t claim obama said this – my point is we should quote his strongest, recent anti-war position.

• Mark Littlewood 8th Jan '08 - 11:14pm

  Despite my brilliant recommendation (above), I think he will probably go “low key and safe”.

  But I hope not.

  The one major thing we don’t want Nick to be is low key.

  And that rather implies he can’t be “safe” either.

• Jennie 9th Jan '08 - 1:58am

  I think he’s doomed whatever he does; I’m the world’s biggest Vince fan, but I’m firmly of the opinion that the only reason the press heaped praise on him the way they did was so that whichever of Nick or Chris won the leadership election could be compared unfavourably to Vince. This may or may not have been conscious.

  If he goes for the jugular, he risks embarrassment. If he plays it safe, he’ll be lambasted as a coward. It’s a lose/lose scenario. Sadly.

  Or maybe I’m just cynical.

• Mark Littlewood 9th Jan '08 - 4:17am

  Okay, scratch Obama. Find whatever Clinton said.

• Jo Anglezarke 9th Jan '08 - 7:42am

  My suggestion above was realistic rather than idealistic.

  At Ming’s first PMQs Blair was only too ready to shoot the gun at whatever he said – the fact that it was his firat outing made him vulnerable to attack – it’s the same here – Nick will be so vulnerable as the fact that it’s his first won’t leave him many options tactically…

• MartinSGill 9th Jan '08 - 7:53am

  The problem I see with Nick being safe and low key is that it will hurt him.

  He’s a new leader, the one to take us to the general election and I suspect lots of people leaning towards libdems and floating voters will be watching this first PMQs to see what he’s like.

  If he doesn’t impress then the libdems lose out.

• Martin Land 9th Jan '08 - 9:54am

  “Do you think your safe with your back to that lot?”

• Gavin Whenman 9th Jan '08 - 10:23am

  Go for the jugular on something the Lib Dems we are perceived to be weak on – crime would be a good one, but the military might be another (but not an Iraq/Afghanistan snoozefest question).

• Dan 9th Jan '08 - 11:17am

  He should ask a question on the same topic as Cameron, but ask it better.

• Jo Anglezarke 9th Jan '08 - 12:18pm

  Well I’m hardly going to be truthful and honest about what my real advice to Nick would be am I?!!!

  This is after all a forum which is open to all kinds of misinterpretation, and any passing tories!!