The Old Hack

A short while ago in these pages I referred to William Hague's offering at the Tory conference as an example of pious arrogance.  Yesterday's YouGov opinion poll for the Daily Torygraph (sorry, Telegraph) shows no change on the last poll taken just after the conference, with the Tories just three points ahead of Labour at 41 percent.

To my mind, this does not represent grounds for complacency from Her Majesty's opposition, particularly in view of the rough patch which the Prime Minister currently seems to be going through.

Yet the Daily Mail's Quentin Letts gives vent to a vicious article in Thursday's edition of the rag (sorry, journal) referring to the Prime Minister's performance at Question Time as "More like Frank Spencer than (a) great statesman".

Those of you who remember the character Frank Spencer will know that his haplessness elicited much laughter, which (whatever one's political views) can hardly be said of our Prime Minister.

Good political commentators are a rare breed.  I enjoy reading their pithy comments, no matter which side they are supporting, and getting to the bottom of what is actually happening in Parliament.

Letts cannot be considered among this genre.  His article is totally lacking in depth and content and seems to have been put together purely to earn points from his right-wing paymasters.  Were his piece featured in a Tory propoganda sheet, I would dismiss it as another example of arrogance.  But Letts is writing for a national newspaper (if I may refer to the Daily Mail in such generous terms) and really should know better.  For Letts, the fact that David Cameron seems to put up a better performance at Question Time is evidence that he is the more competent and trustworthy politician. 

After ten years of the highly adept Tony Blair at the dispatch box, dismissing leader after leader of the opposition with his brilliant oratory, it is something of a refreshing change to have a Prime Minister who shows that he does not always give the performance of an accomplished lawyer, but rather shows his human side.

We did not have the benefit of televised broadcasts from the House of Commons in the late nineteen forties.  If we did, I imagine we would have seen many similar exchanges as last Wednesday's between the labour Prime Minister Clement Atlee and Tory leader Sir Winston Churchill.  Churchill's eloquence and turn of phrase was legendary.  But is was Atlee's government that made for real change in British society after the Second World War.

Let's hear more about the substance than the waffle, Mr Letts.  Then you may earn your colours as a political commentator of some esteem.