PMQs-29/4/2009 Gurkhas can be lethal

I don't think I have ever seen Gordon Brown look both so competant and so ineffectual in one hlaf hour session. On Flu he was authoritive and measured. Then the questioning turned to Gurkhas and he fell apart.

The fact that he inferred that the justice for gurkhas campaign were lying about the figures was a bad start (though neither Clegg or Cameroon could point this out due to the rules of the house). His answers were quickly shown by Nick Clegg to be vague and unhelpful. Even back bench questions seemed to shake him.

The problem is that he has already had to U-turn this week over the flat rate daily allowance and he can't do so again. The problem is that the u-turn he made solved nothing and prevented him from making a u-turn that would have helped his image.

On the subject of images MPs in general have not helped themselves. I counted 3 wasted questions in that half hour and on the last one conservative mps loudly made the point. Rather hypocritical since the two previous wasters had come from their side! Also, the only time the speaker had to intervene was when the question of expsenses was brought up and the questioner was loudly shouted down. Not a good image, though it did let Brown try and reclaim come of the moral high ground of the session.

There followed a comedy moment when Brown forgot he was giving a statement and had half left the chamber when the speaker's announcement pulled him up short, much to the joy of the opposition benches.

However the single most significant moment of the day was the government defeat over gurkhas. This is the first major loss for Gordon Brown's premiership. With a vote on mp's expenses tomorrow this is looking like a very very bad week the pm. Maybe he could arrange to come down with a bout of flu and avoid the whole mess!