What would YOU ask David Cameron in Public Prime Minister’s Questions?

Mike here comments on Milliband’s suggestion that the gap between public and political parties could be bridged by reforming Prime Minister’s Questions so that it’s the public who ask them, not the other politicians. It’s a great idea, and Mike and his commenters suggest some of the extremely hard questions that Cameron should have to answer. I doubt, however, that this reform will be put into practice, however. As Sir Humphrey would put it, I’m afraid the government of the day would find it far too ‘courageous’. The Tory press under Blair commented on how PMQs became very stage-managed under Blair, and I’ve no doubt this has continued under Broon and Cameron. Cameron definitely will not welcome this reform as it is, because it leaves him vulnerable to having to answer difficult questions from irate members of the public, who probably know more about the issue than he does. In the case of the practical effects of his disastrous policies on the unemployed and disabled, this is pretty much a given. If it did come in, it would be very, very carefully managed and slanted like Dimblebore on Question Time. No question so difficult that the Prime Minister could not give a trite answer would be accepted.
I also doubt a radical reform of Prime Minister’s Question Time like this would be implemented through the low opinion of the High Tory political class to the general public. IDS has repeated whined that he is not going to release the information on the participants’ in his workfare programme, because this would make them unpopular with the public and so have a chilling effect. Ditto with the number of deaths from his policies. Cameron, RTU, Osbo and Fester McVile have the 18th century attitude that politics are for the responsible upper classes, and are not to be soiled with the presence of the labouring poor. They should know their place and obey their masters. They should certainly not be allowed to question them.

Mike Sivier's blog

Mile-wide: Mr Miliband explained his idea to bridge the gulf between the public and the Prime Minister to Andrew Marr.

Ed Miliband engaged in a particularly compelling piece of kite-flying today (July 27) – he put out the idea that the public should have their own version of Prime Minister’s Questions.

Speaking to Andrew Marr, he said such an event would “bridge the ‘mile-wide’ gulf between what people want and what they get from Prime Minister’s Questions”, which has been vilified in recent years for uncivilised displays of tribal hostility between political parties and their leaders (David Cameron being the worst offender) and nicknamed ‘Wednesday Shouty Time’.

“I think what we need is a public question time where regularly the prime minister submits himself or herself to questioning from members of the public in the Palace of Westminster on Wednesdays,” said Mr Miliband.

“At the moment there are a…

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