Tom Hamilton

I'm not naturally drawn to books about politics. I'm not naturally drawn to enquire about Prime Minister's Question Time, an event which has always struck me as noisy and brash, without serving much of a useful purpose. This book entirely disabuses that notion.

I was drawn in from the first sentences.' You're the Leader of the Opposition. it's your job to choose one of the week's top political news stories and write six questions to the Prime Minister about it. Not exam questions, not show more questions you might ask an expert, but awkward, hostile questions that will put the Prime Minister on the back foot ....'.

I was immediately interested. This book describes how PMQs play a defining role in British politics. This once-a-week contest between Prime Minister and Opposite Number forces each of the pair not only to prepare well, backed by a team of advisers, but to examine their own policies, and understand where and why they might be weak. Preparing to spar with their opponent, undermining them with clever questions, a wounding joke, an unreturnable rejoinder is an important and time-consuming part of their routine. Some participants have performed well - even extremely well: William Hague, David Cameron and Tony Blair generally rose well to the occasion. Others did not. Ian Duncan Smith never shone, and the current sparring partners, Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn bring no spark to the event.

Understanding more of this weekly show, and its purpose in building or destroying morale among the troops (the MPs), in providing fodder for the press, and in fine tuning policy has been illuminating.

It's a thorough, informative and funny account of this peculiarly British institution. I read it willingly and with real interest. And not just because (and I ought to mention my interest here) one of the authors, Tom Hamilton, is my son. show less