:00:08. > :00:13.Under what circumstances would the US take military action against
:00:13. > :00:19.Iraq and our country would not support them? I would like to talk
:00:19. > :00:24.about the circumstances where we would support them. The UN
:00:24. > :00:27.resolution would say that Saddam has to disarm himself. If there was
:00:27. > :00:33.a breach of that resolution we would support military action to
:00:33. > :00:39.make sure that the will of the UN would be an force. Did he feel you
:00:39. > :00:44.were getting somewhere when his DUP Toorak? Yes. It was important to
:00:44. > :00:48.stick wet, partly for internal party management meetings.
:00:48. > :00:56.Everybody was pressing Tony Blair about whether he would go in and
:00:56. > :01:05.when. The question, are there circumstances when you would not
:01:05. > :01:11.going, that was the question. You could see the Labour benches
:01:11. > :01:16.keening to find the answer. It was a question he could not possibly
:01:16. > :01:21.answer. Did he get a sense that you were doing the right thing by
:01:21. > :01:29.sticking to the same subject week after week. Yes, a senior Cabinet
:01:29. > :01:34.minister came up to me after it PMQs. It was easier for me, because
:01:34. > :01:38.Iain Duncan Smith was leader of the Conservatives. He declared his hand
:01:38. > :01:43.almost before seeing the evidence. He said it was totally persuasive,
:01:43. > :01:53.and that was it. Wherever Tony Blair-led, the Conservatives would
:01:53. > :01:56.
:01:57. > :02:00.follow. A senior Cabinet minister Qamar and said to me, Charlie - you
:02:00. > :02:06.keep asking those questions because you are asking some of those
:02:07. > :02:12.questions we would like to asking Cabinet but dare not. What was your
:02:12. > :02:20.job in those vital hours before Prime Minister's Questions
:02:20. > :02:25.happened? Our job was two per pair for the answers that may be asked.
:02:25. > :02:30.We had to anticipate the issues from the range of topics. And we
:02:30. > :02:34.had to do what Michael said he was thinking of doing. Thinking of
:02:34. > :02:39.lines for the Prime Minister to making seem Prime Ministerial.
:02:39. > :02:43.was going on and the rival camp as Leader of the Opposition? We also
:02:43. > :02:52.planning tactics and rehearsing scenes? I never went in for the
:02:52. > :02:59.play acting. I probably should have done. You try to think ahead about
:02:59. > :03:05.the most likely subjects. Which ones offer the greatest potential.
:03:05. > :03:14.On the morning of PMQs, you clear the morning and think of the best
:03:14. > :03:19.questions to ask. You're selected an unexpected event at PMQs in 2004.
:03:19. > :03:24.It came as the Tory leader was asking Tony Blair if he would serve
:03:24. > :03:29.a full term as Prime Minister. Isn't it the case that the most
:03:29. > :03:39.senior member of his own Cabinet, the two people he is sitting
:03:39. > :03:41.
:03:41. > :03:43.between now have stitched him up like a kipper? It is interesting
:03:43. > :03:53.how the right and honourable gentleman never wants to discuss
:03:53. > :03:58.
:03:58. > :04:08.the issues. I wonder why. Order. This house is now suspended. There
:04:08. > :04:09.
:04:09. > :04:14.we are. Ending PMQs rather abruptly. Purple powder was thrown by a
:04:14. > :04:21.priest. That must have been frightening. That was the only
:04:21. > :04:27.occasion in 20 years where PMQs was stopped and did not go back. We
:04:27. > :04:32.debated during that time whether we should go back and complete it. We
:04:32. > :04:41.did not have the ability to do that at this stage. It goes back to why
:04:41. > :04:45.we have PMQs. The democracy of the argument. Some MPs were quite
:04:45. > :04:52.shaken what had happened, not knowing what it was. This is
:04:52. > :04:58.probably telling tales out of school. It was immediately dealt
:04:58. > :05:04.with by the security services, jackets off. I was left at the side.
:05:04. > :05:08.That was the pecking order at the time. It is not fair. The Speaker
:05:08. > :05:17.tells us again and again that the public does not like these rowdy
:05:17. > :05:26.scenes. Teasing he is right? I am not sure he is. I suspect a large
:05:26. > :05:35.number of people relish them. Charles Kennedy, does it need to
:05:35. > :05:39.quieten down? It does quite a lot of the time, even during PMQs. The
:05:39. > :05:42.most heated tents to be the Leader of the Opposition and the Prime
:05:42. > :05:47.Minister. The Leader of the Opposition has six questions. If he
:05:47. > :05:54.wants to deploy all six on the same subject that develops into way
:05:54. > :05:57.tennis match. The Lib Dem leader gets to questions but everyone else
:05:57. > :06:03.has one. In the present Coalition the Lib Dem leader is not asking
:06:03. > :06:10.any questions which means that PMQs now lacks that second highlight the
:06:10. > :06:19.Nick Easter having your day. think it has lost something?
:06:19. > :06:23.Backbench Lib Dems are encouraged to stand up and ask questions. The
:06:23. > :06:28.speaker wants to spread the party balance around. But they cannot be
:06:28. > :06:34.too critical because they are part of the Coalition government. So
:06:34. > :06:39.they are slightly stymied. When we were in opposition, when it was
:06:39. > :06:43.conventional one-party government, you were very dependent on what the
:06:43. > :06:49.leader of the Conservative Party did. I would have to have two or
:06:49. > :06:55.three sets of questions, knowing that tuition fees might be the
:06:55. > :07:01.issue of the day. You have that six questions on tuition fees. What am
:07:01. > :07:06.I go in to say for the 7th or 8th question which gives me a twist to
:07:06. > :07:12.get into the Six O'clock News. If I go into something else I will
:07:12. > :07:21.probably drop the age. Yours staff was deliberately combat it in
:07:21. > :07:31.contrast to your predecessor. It wasn't a deliberate policy? It is
:07:31. > :07:34.
:07:34. > :07:44.the nearest thing to amount combat that we have. -- disarmed combat.
:07:44. > :07:46.
:07:46. > :07:56.David Cameron has come back to a pretty, Basij treatment. -- combat
:07:56. > :07:56.
:07:56. > :08:03.its treatment. Did David Cameron get nervous? He had a fear of the
:08:03. > :08:08.Commons at all times. We do not know how it will go, how our own
:08:08. > :08:13.side will react, what questions will be asked. That tension is
:08:13. > :08:21.always there. The House of Commons is the most unpredictable audience
:08:21. > :08:26.in the world. You never know how it is going to react. I could think I
:08:26. > :08:31.had a cracking series of questions which would fall flat. I could go
:08:31. > :08:36.in with ordinary questions and it would take off. It is a very
:08:36. > :08:42.unpredictable audience. And the prepared jokes sums times do not
:08:42. > :08:49.work and the off-the-cuff jokes do. It is a strange as it. It has
:08:49. > :08:54.lasted for 50 years. Do you think it will go on for the next 50?
:08:54. > :09:02.think it will stay as it is now. It is comeback kid, testing the Prime
:09:02. > :09:08.Minister, asking questions. This will be here as long as the House
:09:08. > :09:13.of Commons. A distinguished parliamentary commentator, Norman
:09:13. > :09:18.shrapnel, said that too much silence was more ominous than too
:09:18. > :09:24.much noise in a parliamentary democracy. I come down on the size
:09:24. > :09:29.of noise rather than silence. I first came into the House of
:09:29. > :09:38.Commons I remember being told by an experienced colleague on outside
:09:38. > :09:41.that when we would complain about the noise, tell them to remember
:09:41. > :09:49.that we are carrying out our arguments in here instead of
:09:49. > :09:55.fighting in the streets. Thank you very much indeed. Some thoughts on
:09:55. > :09:58.the worth of Prime Minister's Questions On the Record Review. A
:09:58. > :10:05.flavour of the exchanges between David Cameron and Ed Miliband as
:10:05. > :10:08.they play a share the Euro. speaks for the government? It is no
:10:08. > :10:14.wonder that his backbenchers say there is not clarity over the
:10:14. > :10:21.government position. The committee said the government's position was
:10:21. > :10:24.not sustainable. Is it his position to get out of the social chapter?
:10:24. > :10:34.It is these Coalition that has worked together to get us out of
:10:34. > :10:40.the bail-out fund. To get us out of the Greek bail out. The split that
:10:40. > :10:44.we have is between the right honourable gentleman and reality.
:10:44. > :10:48.David Cameron and Ed Miliband trading blows after a week when the
:10:48. > :10:58.eurozone financial crisis concentrated minds both at
:10:58. > :11:07.
:11:07. > :11:10.This weekend the wind will be strong across north-western areas.
:11:10. > :11:16.It is south-westerly and that will bring mild air across the UK for
:11:16. > :11:21.the end of October. This weather front is pushing through Scotland
:11:21. > :11:27.and Northern Ireland. It will move through Northern England, Wales and
:11:27. > :11:31.south-west England during the day. It is accompanied by strong winds,
:11:31. > :11:35.possibly gale-force. Through the night, the weather front moves