Prime Minister's Questions: The key bits and the verdict
By Brian Wheeler
Political reporter
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With Theresa May in China, stand-ins David Lidington and Emily Thornberry clashed at Prime Minister's Questions. What happened?
David Lidington may not exactly be a household name but it is not the first time he has stood in for Theresa May. Emily Thornberry wasted no time in reminding him of one of his earlier appearances, in December 2016, when the then justice secretary goaded Labour over its poor opinion poll ratings and in-fighting.
"Well, what a difference a year makes," cried the shadow foreign secretary.
She asked about increasing the number of women MPs - on the centenary of votes for women - before launching into the first of five questions about lowering the voting age to 16.
"What a difference a year makes.. but I am not going to intrude further on the public’s grief” @EmilyThornberry to @DLidington saying she is the only Emily elected since 1918 and there have been 155 Davids #pmqs
— BBC Daily Politics and Sunday Politics (@daily_politics) January 31, 2018
He says 97 members of her frontbench have been sacked or resigned pic.twitter.com/A7XR6KXg5R
This was a rare outing on the big stage for an issue that Labour has been campaigning on for a while. Mr Lidington was having none of it, insisting that voting came with the "rights and responsibilities" of age and few other countries had votes at 16.
He also sent fact checkers into a spin by claiming 97 members of the Labour front bench have either been sacked or resigned since Jeremy Corbyn took over as leader.
“If the party opposite is so proud of heaving a female leader, why are so many of them trying to get rid of her?” @EmilyThornberry who asks about votes for those aged 16+17
— BBC Daily Politics and Sunday Politics (@daily_politics) January 31, 2018
“Only a handful of countries in the world that have a nationwide voting age below 18” @DLidington #pmqs pic.twitter.com/xi6qJJ7JRQ
Mr Lidington hit back at Ms Thornberry's claim that 16-year-olds, who could join the forces, start a family and leave home, deserved to have a say in the running of the country, with a list of all the things Labour stopped them from doing when they were in power.
Labour raised the age for buying cigarettes, fireworks, knives and even using sunbeds to 18, he said, hardly consistent, he suggested with reducing the voting age to 16.
“I did not hear any logical explanation for the different rights that we give 16-year-olds in this country” @EmilyThornberry
— BBC Daily Politics and Sunday Politics (@daily_politics) January 31, 2018
“If she wants a lesson in inconsistencies, she might like to examine the mirror” @DLidington listing changes on age limits brought in under Labour #bbcdp pic.twitter.com/XZbT6i1HBJ
Speaker John Bercow came to Ms Thornberry's aid by telling the "noisy, boorish and in one case rather stupid" MPs, who he claimed always made more noise "when a woman is addressing the house", to shut up.
“Cut it out”
— BBC Daily Politics and Sunday Politics (@daily_politics) January 31, 2018
Speaker warns MPs after saying “a lot of noisy, boarish, and in one case rather stupid individual, are trying to shout the Rt Hon Lady down”#pmqs pic.twitter.com/k30hVO3WJ7
Ms Thornberry suggested 16 and 17-year-old carers, who have "given up their youth", should not be denied a say at the ballot box - and cited the lower voting age in Scotland and Wales.
“How can it to be fair, how can it be logical to expect for them to take on responsibility because of failures of the state, and then deny them a say on how that very state is run?” @EmilyThornberry
— BBC Daily Politics and Sunday Politics (@daily_politics) January 31, 2018
“Age of majority should.... match both rights and responsibilities” @DLidington pic.twitter.com/LqJtYTU65x
We then came to the possible reason why she had chosen this subject - a past quote from Mr Lidington at the Youth Parliament, which appeared to suggest he supported lowering the voting age.
“All of us on this side agree with the minister, so why does he no longer agree with himself?” @EmilyThornberry
— BBC Daily Politics and Sunday Politics (@daily_politics) January 31, 2018
“I fully support the role that the youth parliament does…excellent training for the full adult responsibilities they will inherit when they are 18 ” @DLidington #pmqs pic.twitter.com/8wCHh1W1hs
Ms Thornberry's jibe about the DUP and the Tories being a "coalition of cavemen" raised a few laughs but did not appear to phase Mr Lidington, who hit back with a crack about the Flintstones. (No shouts of "yabba dabba doo" though.)
Young people could take an interest in current affairs and when the time was right - 18 - they could take part in elections, he told MPs, just like they did in 26 of the 27 other members of the EU. He ended by advising Ms Thornberry to "grow up".
“There is no logical principled objection to votes at 16" @EmilyThornberry as all Westminster parties except Tories/DUP “coalition of cavemen” support it
— BBC Daily Politics and Sunday Politics (@daily_politics) January 31, 2018
“My advice to the Rt Hon Lady is to wean herself off of watching old versions of the Flintstones” @DLidington #pmqs pic.twitter.com/wRf35bTky8
What else came up?
The SNP's leader at Westminster, Iain Blackford brought up the leaked government document suggesting the UK would be worse off if it left the EU single market, claiming the government was "in crisis" over Brexit.
(He also managed to squeeze in a reference to the Robin which had been flapping around the chamber before PMQs, bringing a bit of light relief to Welsh questions)
Mr Lidington, who campaigned for Remain in the EU referendum, gave a rote response about the UK officially leaving the single market on Brexit day, before taking a swipe at the SNP, saying the "most important single market to the people of Scotland is the single market of the United Kingdom".
This "is a government in crisis and an international embarrassment” says @IanBlackfordMP before asking “Where is the leadership?”
— BBC Daily Politics and Sunday Politics (@daily_politics) January 31, 2018
“It is our and deep and special partnership with the EU in the future that will help deliver prosperity to Scotland” @DLidington #pmqs pic.twitter.com/gCNwzcjGTe
Labour's David Lammy asked about cuts to the police and border force.
Knife driven by "gangsters, organised criminals and dirty money" @DavidLammy asking about cuts to police & Border Force
— BBC Daily Politics and Sunday Politics (@daily_politics) January 31, 2018
“If you carry a knife you can expect to end up in jail. We have toughened the sentences. We have protected, despite what he said, police budgets" @DLidington pic.twitter.com/70k5f56MPo
Labour's John Mann asked about North/South funding discrepancies.
Why has one London borough received more Arts Council funding than all the ex-coalfields in the Midlands and northern England combined, asks @JohnMannMP
— BBC Daily Politics and Sunday Politics (@daily_politics) January 31, 2018
But @DLidington is not sure if that was an attack on the Labour leader or @EmilyThornberry who faced him at #PMQs #Islington pic.twitter.com/lHYPTvK76w
The Verdict
Here is what Daily Politics presenter Andrew Neil made of it:
"Emily Thornberry surprised us all" says @afneil on her choice of questions as she stood in for the Labour leader at #PMQs
— BBC Daily Politics and Sunday Politics (@daily_politics) January 31, 2018
"It was different, whether it will go any further is another matter, let’s see" #bbcdp pic.twitter.com/j5vselKYZJ
And here is BBC Parliamentary Correspondent Mark D'Arcy's verdict:
A relatively brisk 42 minutes of PMQs today - perhaps because, with neither Theresa May nor Jeremy Corbyn taking part, there was less cacophony and the Speaker had to spend less time quelling noisy MPs. So what did we learn?
Emily Thornberry's questioning on women's representation in the Commons and on votes for 16 year-olds was a smart choice both in electoral and in internal party terms. And while David Lidington produced an adroit, effective, response, she will, doubtless, feel it's "job done".
David Lidington is a long-serving, senior minister, with nothing to prove. Emily Thornberry has points to score and potential allies to win over. Both performers gave full rein to their inner luvvie, with some entertaining theatrics, but somehow it's just never as real as when the two leaders do battle.
The backbench questioners caught the mood as well; most of the questions were either carefully "helpful" to their particular party, or raised constituency concerns. No-one on the backbenches sought to embarrass, or even pressure, the two stand-ins. There was a ritual exchange of courtesies and assurances between Mr Lidington and the DUP's Leader, Nigel Dodds, protecting the Commons pact which is the Government's delicate jugular vein, and there were signs that the SNP's Ian Blackford has begun to get the hang of PMQs, with a well-honed question on Brexit and the Single Market.
Probably the nastiest moment came when Speaker Bercow complained of "boorish and in one case rather stupid" heckling. I'm not sure, from my viewpoint, who his target was - but I'm sure the MP in question will be smarting. But the Speaker is too secure on his Chair to worry about bruised backbench bruisers.
What pundits are staying on Twitter
May’s Tory stand-in David Lidington doing well until he told Emily Thornberry to “grow up” - patronising when they’d earlier discussed centenary of votes for women #pmqs
— Kevin Maguire (@Kevin_Maguire) January 31, 2018
Nanny knows best on knives, booze and fags says Thornberry.. as she demands minors get the vote.. What a mess
— Harry Cole (@MrHarryCole) January 31, 2018
David Lidington says Emily Thornberry should “grow up” and stop calling for the voting age to be lowered to 16. Not sure that’s a good look. #PMQs
— Kevin Schofield (@PolhomeEditor) January 31, 2018