I stopped doing PMQ write-ups some time ago. They were getting so repetitive and mind-numbingly pointless that I was losing the will to live.
Today’s exchange between Nick Clegg and Harriet Harman was typical of the genre. Harriet Harman made some very good prepared points, and Nick Clegg blasted away on Labour’s record and mentioned some good bits from this government’s record. There was a lot huing and crying and then everyone went to lunch.
Here is how Andrew Sparrow recorded the exchange on the Guardian Politics Live blog:
Nick Clegg says he spent one day in Cornwall last week (on autumn statement day). Labour MPs have been spending five years in cloud cuckoo land, he says.
Harriet Harman says it is good to see Clegg back in his place since he missed the autumn statement. Clegg has made seven cabinet appointments. How many have been women?
Clegg says Harman knows who he has appointed. But women have got things from this goverment they never got from Labour, such as better childcare and more flexible working.
Harman says Clegg is normally quite forthcoming when replying to questions about himself and women. Since tribunal charges were introduced, what has been the impact on sex discrimination cases?
Clegg says female unemployment rose under Labour. Women were given a 75p rise in the state pension. He cares more about those women than anyone around the cabinet table.
Harman says there has been a 90% fall in the number of sex discrimination cases. What percentage of millionaires getting the top rate tax cut have been women?
Clegg says increasing the basic rate threshold has gone disproportionately to women.
Harman says those tax cuts have been wiped out by the impact of other cuts. Some 85% of people gaining from the top rate tax have been men. How many people affected by the bedroom tax are women?
Clegg says there are more women in the boardroom, and the gender pay gap has been virtually abolished for the under-40s.
Harman says most of those affected by the bedroom tax are women.
Clegg says it is time to call out Harman on Labour’s record. Youth unemployment,, child poverty, pensioner poverty and income tax for middle income were higher. This side of the House has had to clear up the mess.
Harman says Clegg has demonstrated that he is out of touch with women’s lives. Clegg walks through the lobbies with the Tories. He briefs against them, but votes with them.
Clegg says the British people won’t trust Labour. Manufacturing jobs were lost faster under Labour than under Margaret Thatcher. And Andy Burnham is the only health secretary to privatise a hospital, he says.
Snap PMQs verdict: Virtuoso stitch-up job by Harman, with Clegg only making thing worse for himself by refusing to engage with her perfectly sound points.
UPDATE: You can watch the exchange below:
* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist in Newbury and West Berkshire. He is Wednesday Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Liberal Burblings.