GAME PLAN

Tony Blair would have been expecting either a question on tax and spend (the issue of the day) or a straight attack on tuition fees. Instead Michael Howard came in with a left-field question on whether the Government had broken its own rules on political advertising by using taxpayers’ money to pay for a radio ad on tuition fees before legislation had passed the House.

Mr Howard’s clear aim each week is to catch the Prime Minister off guard. Sometimes he asks six questions on the same subject, sometimes he tackles two different subjects. This means that Mr Blair never knows when to launch his scripted peroration.

Yesterday’s unexpected question certainly succeeded in throwing Mr Blair. He did not know the answer, and refused to address it. Instead of answering, he kept turning his reply into a knockabout attack on Tory policy on top-up fees.

The Prime Minister should have acknowledged that he knew nothing about the ads but would look into the matter. Instead, he was far too worried about looking weak. His failure — six times in a row — to answer the question was as telling, and as damaging, as Mr Howard’s famous refusal to answer the same question 14 times on Newsnight when he was Home Secretary.

TACTICS

Had Mr Blair admitted his ignorance of the radio ads, Mr Howard would have gone on to another subject. As it was, the Tory leader managed to start a new story running, on whether the Government had or had not acted improperly. By mid-afternoon, both sides were putting out their evidence and a good political row had broken out.

On a huge news day like yesterday, Mr Howard had the choice of going with the big story, the Pre-Budget Report, and perhaps earning a short clip on the TV news, or creating a different story of his own. He succeeded in his aim; and he made the Prime Minister look evasive, arrogant and disdainful of proper procedures.

FINAL SCORE

Win for Mr Howard

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