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PMQs to be replaced by new 'Oh, the Good Old Days!' slot
6 Dec 2003 by Venatio
In a move heralded by the multitalented leader of the House of Commons, proposals were this week tabled to replace Prime Minister's Question Time with a new half hour 'Oh, the Good Old Days!' slot. The government believes that the change would allow it to appeal more to the humour and interests of the public and hence increase voter turnout and "perhaps even make Tony appear popular again".
Since Michael Howard's imposition on the once sedate PMQ session, with his enthralling chats with Uncle Tony about their past as a right-wing megalomaniac and the guy who liked the Poll Tax, the public has been anxious to hear more revelations of past political exploits. After last Wednesday's stirring tête-à-tête over their education which featured on the BBC's lunchtime news for all of 20 seconds, MPs have realised that the future of Common's debates lies, "not in legislation but in idle chatter, designed to give a rosy aura to the chamber." Despite the pink tendencies of this Senior Labour figure, it cannot be denied that PMQs have recently been a success with a primetime slot on the news.
"We were given almost as much time as the story about the missing goat - that's a victory for democracy," said one enthusiastic Tory figure, trying his best Michael Aspel impersonation for the cameras.
Despite rumours of expanding the proposals to include "daily lectures on political figures" led by the enthusiastic gameshow host Charles Kennedy in Westminster Hall, Downing Street moved to reassure MPs and the public alike that these proposals would go no further. They were keen, however, to quash speculation that this was because the leaders of the main parties had nothing better to talk about besides Thatcherite aspirations and schoolboy chatter. "After all, Blair went to Oxford and Howard to Cambridge, so that could indeed prove to be an interesting half-hour," a spokesman said.
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