The first PMQs of the new Parliament
3rd June 2010
Harriett Baldwin writes for 'The Blue Blog' on her first experience of Prime Minister's Questions.
Yesterday was David Cameron’s first day answering rather than asking Prime Minister’s Questions and with the shootings in Cumbria and recent deaths in Afghanistan, it was a sombre start. For new backbenchers seats are at a premium as the Chamber is so small.
Some of my colleagues queued from 7am. If you are there that early you get to pick any seat you want on the back benches, place a small green “prayer card” on it and leave it there until the Speaker arrives at 2:30 for Prayers. If you are there for prayers, that becomes your seat for the day. I arrived at about 8:30am and placed my prayer card on a seat on the back row.
I always thought MPs could just stand up and ask a question, but that is not how it works. The Leader of the Opposition gets to ask six questions. Other MPs had entered their names in a ballot over a week ago, and there is a “Shuffle” to pick the order in which questions can be asked of the Prime Minister.
However, in rare circumstances, you can ask an unscheduled question. In the case of Karen Bradley, the new MP for Staffordshire Moorlands, the case of her constituent was one of the day’s top news stories. She was therefore able to contact the Speaker first thing this morning and during PMQs she was able to catch his eye again and could ask the Prime Minister about her constituent’s case.
It just goes to show how the rituals of Prime Minister’s Question’s can be used effectively by a new backbencher to raise vital local issues.
