The Sketch: Simon Carr
Duncan Smith adopts a lighter tone. Tory revival? It started here
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Iain Duncan Smith has returned, no less unusually from wherever he's been, and his presence at the dispatch box suddenly gives cause for some quiet Tory confidence. If he can do it, they think, so might we.
He's got a new tone; I think people will like it. A lighter touch. Reasonable, quiet. Allows us to focus on the issue rather than on himself. That's important. Particularly in Mr Duncan Smith's case.
The Sketch enters the hat-eating contest by declaring that the Tory leader will not be challenged for his position. He will rise four to eight points in the polls before the euro referendum, and will lead his party into the next election. Tory revival. Early days. It started here.
He and others in his team now tell us things we may not have known. While his questions don't demand an answer (that's not what question time is for, after all) they give us information. It's an unusual parliamentary tactic.
For instance: the railways' punctuality figures were deteriorating so badly that Stephen Byers snapped into action. He stopped publishing them. Mr Duncan Smith's research team had delved deep to uncover the facts.
Admittedly, the figures were published on station platforms by the train companies, but they were new to me.
The punctuality record of trains in the last quarter, since the minister sent accountants in to run the railways, had worsened by 50 per cent here, 70 per cent there and 95 per cent elsewhere. What extraordinarily good news. For the Tories. The Prime Minister surely couldn't blame that on privatisation?
Mr Blair slithered into action.
Hatfield. That was the thing. Botched privatisation and the Hatfield crash were responsible for the recent deterioration. In what way, exactly? Hatfield showed the true state of the railways was worse than anyone had guessed. The fact that punctuality, passenger figures and freight carried had all improved massively until Mr Byers' action was left unprobed.
Mr Blair's slipperiness has now become his most obvious and least attractive characteristic.
A Labour MP in Greater Manchester, a Mr Burnham, referred to gangs of youths roiling in his constituency, feeling themselves to be above the law. The police had "re-prioritised" this, which meant that no teams were now sent out to deal with them.
The Prime Minister said: "The whole of the community must root out this behaviour." Ah yes. It's our fault. It's down to us. The whole community will have to do better.
Mr Duncan Smith asked why crime was going up. The Prime Minister said that crime was going down. But why was it going up? Because it was going down.
Poland, then. Why does Poland get twice the EU development aid that South America gets? Oh, don't be silly. What about John Prescott's flat he still hasn't registered? Isn't it provided by the very union that is now calling train workers out on strike? It is, of course. Mr Blair described this as "the usual rubbish".
The Prime Minister looks tired. So do his arguments.
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