PMQT anorak corner: Blair misses a trick

At prime minister’s question time today David Cameron asked Tony Blair about the contest to become the next “deputy prime minister”.

The reason he phrased it that way was because of a (slightly odd) ruling a while ago by the speaker, Michael Martin, that Blair could not be asked about his successor as Labour leader because that was a party matter rather than a government one. Cameron duly rephrased his question in terms of Blair’s successor as prime minister, which Martin allowed.

As I say (and as others said at the time), that was a little odd on Martin’s part. Anyway, Cameron phrased his question today so as to avoid being slapped down again.

But: there is no race (nor will there be) to become deputy PM. Whether the next deputy leader is made deputy PM – not to mention whether the latter post will even exist – will be a matter for the next PM.

So Cameron’s question today was meaningless, and if he’d rephrased it to be meaningful, it would have been out of order. So there. Ha.

Did I mention that I’m a great conversationalist?