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| Tom Peck's Sketch: A hundred questions with just one answer | Tom Peck's Sketch: A hundred questions with just one answer |
| (8 days later) | |
| Just how much you choose to read into Jeremy Corbyn measuring his leadership of the Labour Party by the number of Prime Minister’s Questions he has asked is up to you. Who isn’t compelled to buckle under the weight of temptation proffered by a meaningless milestone? | Just how much you choose to read into Jeremy Corbyn measuring his leadership of the Labour Party by the number of Prime Minister’s Questions he has asked is up to you. Who isn’t compelled to buckle under the weight of temptation proffered by a meaningless milestone? |
| But a Hundred Questions to the Prime Minister as Leader of the Opposition is not one that Tony Blair or even Iain Duncan Smith prevented from slipping by unnoticed. | But a Hundred Questions to the Prime Minister as Leader of the Opposition is not one that Tony Blair or even Iain Duncan Smith prevented from slipping by unnoticed. |
| Should you feel obliged to consider the fact that his spokesperson spent the afternoon making a highly dubious assertion that in the event of a Labour leadership challenge, Corbyn’s name would automatically appear on the ballot, is also a matter of personal taste. And it’s not necessarily relevant that Dan Jarvis has taken it upon himself to deliver a “keynote address” on Labour’s economic agenda this morning. But it might be. | Should you feel obliged to consider the fact that his spokesperson spent the afternoon making a highly dubious assertion that in the event of a Labour leadership challenge, Corbyn’s name would automatically appear on the ballot, is also a matter of personal taste. And it’s not necessarily relevant that Dan Jarvis has taken it upon himself to deliver a “keynote address” on Labour’s economic agenda this morning. But it might be. |
| The 100th question came with about as much oratorical fanfare as Mr Corbyn can manage. The kind of muffled drum roll that W H Auden likes to hear accompanying the carrying of coffins. “On 99 previous attempts to ask questions of the Prime Minister, I have been unclear or dissatisfied with the answers, as indeed many other people have,” Mr Corbyn began, channelling his inner Jay Z. If you’re having EU problems I feel bad for you, son. But I’ve asked 99 questions and you haven’t answered one. “On this auspicious 100th occasion, may I ask the Prime Minister to help out a young man called Callum?” | The 100th question came with about as much oratorical fanfare as Mr Corbyn can manage. The kind of muffled drum roll that W H Auden likes to hear accompanying the carrying of coffins. “On 99 previous attempts to ask questions of the Prime Minister, I have been unclear or dissatisfied with the answers, as indeed many other people have,” Mr Corbyn began, channelling his inner Jay Z. If you’re having EU problems I feel bad for you, son. But I’ve asked 99 questions and you haven’t answered one. “On this auspicious 100th occasion, may I ask the Prime Minister to help out a young man called Callum?” |
| Ah, Callum. It would have been a nice gesture for Mr Corbyn to have acknowledged all those who have helped him on this historic journey. Kelly from Leighton Buzzard, Israel from Norfolk, Dave, Obafemi, Zac, Samantha... | Ah, Callum. It would have been a nice gesture for Mr Corbyn to have acknowledged all those who have helped him on this historic journey. Kelly from Leighton Buzzard, Israel from Norfolk, Dave, Obafemi, Zac, Samantha... |
| Question number 100 bore remarkable similarity to its 99 forebears, in that it referred to a crucial public service currently being cut by the Conservatives – in this case sixth-form colleges and adult learning centres – and was met with the usual answer, that “if you’ve got a strong and growing economy, which we have, you can afford to pay for sixth-form colleges”. | Question number 100 bore remarkable similarity to its 99 forebears, in that it referred to a crucial public service currently being cut by the Conservatives – in this case sixth-form colleges and adult learning centres – and was met with the usual answer, that “if you’ve got a strong and growing economy, which we have, you can afford to pay for sixth-form colleges”. |
| It’s a curious template, this. Corbyn also asked him about a £30 benefit cut hitting disabled people, and two consecutive quarters of shrinkage in the construction industry, two things not necessarily hallmarks of a strong and growing economy. “It’s because we have got a strong economy, we are able to commit to HS2, we are able to commit to the biggest road programme since the 1970s and the largest rail programme since Victorian times,” Mr Cameron told him. Textbook stuff. | It’s a curious template, this. Corbyn also asked him about a £30 benefit cut hitting disabled people, and two consecutive quarters of shrinkage in the construction industry, two things not necessarily hallmarks of a strong and growing economy. “It’s because we have got a strong economy, we are able to commit to HS2, we are able to commit to the biggest road programme since the 1970s and the largest rail programme since Victorian times,” Mr Cameron told him. Textbook stuff. |
| The Labour Party’s democratic processes mean that Mr Corbyn may be asking questions for another 20 years. At least for as long as Mr Cameron is around, there’ll be little hope of an answer. | The Labour Party’s democratic processes mean that Mr Corbyn may be asking questions for another 20 years. At least for as long as Mr Cameron is around, there’ll be little hope of an answer. |