Student politics at PMQ? Kindergarten kids behave better!
Now that I am supposedly a lady of leisure (Ha, ha!), I often get the chance to watch Prime Minister’s Question Time. I really don’t know why I bother – I might as well watch a poor slapstick comedy film on one of the various channels that Sky throw in to my package for free. Twenty minutes of boredom mixed with attempted concentration and then suddenly Nick Clegg is halfway through his first question before I’ve noticed and I have to make use of Sky+ to hear this week’s gem from my leader.
This week’s episode verbal smackdown between Dangerous Dave and Gormless Gordon was at the higher end of the appalling-example-to-set-to-young-people scale. As if realising this, the Prime Minister sought to justify the pettiness of the encounter by returning to his youth, saying:
“We can play his game of student politics as long as he wants to play it,”
But of course, Dave never lowered himself to take part in student politics, preferring just to take part in the aristocratic drinking club that was Bullingdon. So he replied:
“Only one of us was a student politician-and he has never grown out of it.”
I suppose we should be asking if Dave has grown out of his silly drinking games and cannabis taking, but that would be a little, well childish …
For an old political hack like me (and former student politician) it can just seem that the farce of PMQs is the way it always will be, After all, Dave promised an end to Punch and Judy at the Dispatch Box, but that soon went out of the window. So it was interesting to read the perspective of Ol, a member of Cardiff Student Liberal Democrats, who travelled with colleagues at the invitation of Jenny Willott MPto see Wednesday’s PMQs. He said:
“Well, both David Cameron and Gordon Brown made use of “student politics” as an insult. I think everyone in the CSLD, and elsewhere, would protest. Any of us who are engaged in any political activity don’t expect to have our very activity used as a hurled insult across the dispatch box.
“One of the other students who went with me, also made a valuable point. In the House, despite calling each other “honourable”, the crowds of baying MPs on both sides of the house are so rude! They shout down other people – which is almost alright, during the high drama; but they point, laugh, talk over the questions, dismiss what other people are saying, and essentially show the worst elements of humanity.
“The Government talks about a respect agenda, and teaching young people how to be right-thinking, polite members of society. Maybe the first interventions to teach manners and respect should be directed at the House of Commons. It was shocking to all of us students, just how badly they acted there. I always thought that MPs should be polite and listen – and save the mindless howling for the terribly serious issues.”
But thankfully Ol concluded:
“But Jenny Willott was very polite, and our thanks go out to her for letting us students visit the home of our Parliament. Thank you!”
Related posts:
- Student tuition fees: a letter to our MPs
- There are some things more important than politics
- The Lib Dems must not become the battered wives of British politics
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