Key points
This week’s PMQs saw Damian Green, the first secretary of state, face the shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, over the dispatch box (as Theresa May is in the Middle East). Green is currently being investigated over allegations of sexual impropriety. Thornberry alluded to this in the preamble to her first question, in which she asked whether he still believed in the same standards of government that he had required in opposition, before mock-assuring him: “I am not going there.” She then asked him six questions about the NHS.
First, she asked whether Green remembered a question he had posed 17 years ago to the then deputy PM, John Prescott: what percentage of new nurses recruited in the past 12 months are now working full-time? Green said he didn’t recall the question, but there had been significantly more nurses in post in the past 17 years. Thornberry retorted that 40% of newly recruited nurses had left in the past year due to low pay, excessive workloads and concerns about patient care. She went on to say that a hospital in Green’s constituency was cancelling clinics because of staff shortages, quoting from the minutes of a trust meeting.
She concluded by asking what it said about the government’s priorities that only £350m could be found to help the NHS cope with a crisis this winter, but that 11 times that amount could be found to spend on a no-deal Brexit? Green said Labour was not preparing for Brexit but was preparing for a run on the pound.
Snap verdict
Buy shares in Thornberry for next Labour leader. In fact, stock up on as many Thornberrys as you can get. That probably wasn’t as impressive as her last stand-in at PMQs, but it was still a very polished performance, and she delivered a proper drubbing. Green had a good comeback when asked about the hospital in his constituency, and his final anti-Labour soundbite, about the party preparing for a run on the pound but not Brexit, was effective, but otherwise he was floundering badly.
Corbyn has developed a good routine at PMQs involving straight, difficult questions, preferably on issues where he can quote Tory MPs against the PM. But Thornberry showed how much more dangerous she can be by deploying a bit of guile. She started with a teaser question about conduct, which clearly unsettled Green because he thought she might devote all six questions to a topic that would have taken us on to the subject of allegedly touching knees and watching porn on office computers.
Having unsettled Green, Thornberry then moved on and confounded Green with a form of trick question – one that leaves the opponent waiting until the very end before he knows what the question actually is. Thornberry pursued nursing morale for a bit before pulling another surprise, quoting minutes from an NHS trust in Green’s own constituency. That one did not turn out to be so deadly, but overall Thornberry was very accomplished. Labour MPs will be cheered hugely.
Most memorable lines
That is one Anglo-American couple we on this side will be delighted to see holding hands” – Thornberry on the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
We now know the Labour party doesn’t think it’s worth preparing for Brexit but they think it’s worth preparing for run on the pound – that tells you all you need to know” – Green’s retort to Thornberry.
