UK Edition
It seems unbelievable, looking back, but TV cameras weren’t allowed into the Commons until 1989. That’s ridiculously recent. Before then, unless you had the privilege of a seat in the Commons gallery, you had no way of seeing what your elected representatives were up to.
Now, though, everyone can watch them. Including the people those elected representatives are talking about. Who can then make headlines themselves by responding.
Take today at Prime Minister’s Questions. Jeremy Corbyn told Theresa May her catchphrase “Brexit means Brexit” was meaningless, and that she reminded him of Baldrick from Blackadder – because her “cunning plan” was to “do nothing”.
Mrs May responded by noting that the actor who played Baldrick, Tony Robinson, is a Labour supporter who thinks Mr Corbyn is a hopeless leader.
So who should pop up on Twitter moments later but Tony Robinson himself – to shoot back at Mrs May by tweeting “Baldrick means Baldrick”.
Prime Ministers in the old days had it so much easier. Anthony Eden may have had to deal with the Suez crisis, but at least he didn’t have Arthur Askey heckling him while he did it.
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of today’s PMQs was that Mr Corbyn asked about Brexit. Though it’s by miles the most important political issue of our time, at PMQs he generally gives the impression that the whole thing has somehow passed him by, and that he would rather ask about butterfly farming in southern Bolivia or Government policy on bicycle clips.
So credit to the Labour leader for asking about Brexit this time. I suppose it would be ungrateful to complain that he failed to ask the obvious question.
This morning the Guardian had a front-page story about Theresa May. It reported that during the EU referendum campaign, she’d admitted to bankers in the City that, in the event of Brexit, companies could leave Britain.
“If we were not in Europe,” she told them, “I think there would be firms and companies who would be looking to say, do they need to develop a mainland Europe presence rather than a UK presence?”
These days, of course, now that she has anointed herself the high priestess of Brexit, and cuts short all criticism with an icy reminder of “the will of the British people”, she would never suggest something so heretical.
Mr Corbyn, therefore, could have put her on the spot by saying, “Mr Speaker, in May the Prime Minister said that Brexit would mean companies moving abroad. Now she supposedly thinks they won’t. Was she making it up then – or is she making it up now?”
Then again, maybe Mr Corbyn wasn’t in a position to ask that particular question. After all, he can hardly accuse someone of being an unconvincing Brexiter, when he himself has always made such an unconvincing Remainer.
In which case, I suppose he had little choice but to take Baldrick’s advice. And do nothing.
The day Jeremy Corbyn quoted Baldrick... and Baldrick answered back