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'Dunce v Muppets' at Prime Minister's Questions | 'Dunce v Muppets' at Prime Minister's Questions |
(35 minutes later) | |
David Cameron and Ed Miliband have been hurling insults at each other in a return of the "Punch and Judy" politics both men said they wanted to abolish. | David Cameron and Ed Miliband have been hurling insults at each other in a return of the "Punch and Judy" politics both men said they wanted to abolish. |
In exchanges on the price of Royal Mail shares, Mr Miliband said the PM was "not so much the 'Wolf of Wall Street' as the 'dunce of Downing Street'". | In exchanges on the price of Royal Mail shares, Mr Miliband said the PM was "not so much the 'Wolf of Wall Street' as the 'dunce of Downing Street'". |
The PM said he would not take lectures from the Labour leader and Ed Balls. | The PM said he would not take lectures from the Labour leader and Ed Balls. |
He branded the pair "the two Muppets" who had advised former PM Gordon Brown on the sale of the UK's gold. | He branded the pair "the two Muppets" who had advised former PM Gordon Brown on the sale of the UK's gold. |
Asked later if the word "Muppets" was the kind of language the prime minister should be using in Parliament, his spokesman said: "PMQs is a unique parliamentary occasion. It has been the way it has been for many years." | |
The exchanges came in one of most heated Prime Minister's Questions for some time, with Mr Miliband particularly fired up about the part-privatisation of Royal Mail, saying shares had been sold off far too cheaply. | The exchanges came in one of most heated Prime Minister's Questions for some time, with Mr Miliband particularly fired up about the part-privatisation of Royal Mail, saying shares had been sold off far too cheaply. |
The National Audit Office has said the shares were priced too cheaply and the taxpayers did not get "value for money". | The National Audit Office has said the shares were priced too cheaply and the taxpayers did not get "value for money". |
The Labour leader challenged Mr Cameron to name today's share price compared with the initial sale offering of 330p and condemned the government for getting a bad deal. | The Labour leader challenged Mr Cameron to name today's share price compared with the initial sale offering of 330p and condemned the government for getting a bad deal. |
He claimed the shares had been sold off at "mate's rates" to Mr Cameron's "friends in the City". | He claimed the shares had been sold off at "mate's rates" to Mr Cameron's "friends in the City". |
Mr Cameron hit back at the Labour leader, saying: "I will take a lecture from almost anyone in the country about the sale of Royal Mail, but not from the two Muppets who advised the last chancellor on selling the gold. | Mr Cameron hit back at the Labour leader, saying: "I will take a lecture from almost anyone in the country about the sale of Royal Mail, but not from the two Muppets who advised the last chancellor on selling the gold. |
"There they sit, there they sit, not a word of apology for £9bn wasted. The Royal Mail privatisation has got £2bn for the taxpayer." | "There they sit, there they sit, not a word of apology for £9bn wasted. The Royal Mail privatisation has got £2bn for the taxpayer." |
The prime minister claimed that plans to sell off Royal Mail were in Labour's 2010 general election manifesto. | |
It later transpired that the pledge was not in Labour's manifesto, which was written by Ed Miliband. | |
Challenged about this, a Number 10 source said: "The year before, in 2009, Lord Mandelson unveiled plans to sell 30% of the Royal Mail." | |
Gordon Brown - who employed Ed Miliband and Ed Balls as advisers during his years as chancellor is often accused by opponents of selling off Britain's gold reserves far too cheaply. | |
He decided to dispose of almost 400 tonnes of gold between 1999 and 2002 - the majority of Britain's reserves - for between $256 and $296 an ounce, only to watch it soar up to $1,615 per ounce. | |
Commons speaker John Bercow vowed recently to end the "yobbery and public school twittishness" at Prime Minister's Questions. | |
Mr Miliband was said to have sought to bring in a less confrontational PMQs style earlier this year and David Cameron said on his arrival as Conservative leader in 2005 that he wanted to end "Punch and Judy" politics. | |
Despite their efforts the sessions have continued to revert to form, with insults being exchanged and a bear pit atmosphere. It continues to be the single most watched political event of the week. |