Essay On Prime Minister Questions

Every Wednesday, current Prime Minister, David Cameron, meets in the House of Commons for half an hour to answer questions from Members of Parliament. These questions are meant to address current events both international and domestic, and have come to be known as Prime Minister Questions (PMQs). All Members of Parliament must write their questions for the Prime Minister on the Order Paper several days prior to the PMQs. Once submitted, the questions are then sorted through, scrambled, and randomly selected by a computer. Each selected question conveys which Members of Parliament (MPs) will be allowed to ask their questions during that week’s PMQs. If not selected, a MP may try to gain attention of the Speaker by quickly standing and sitting in between each question and answer. Beginning at midday, the question period starts off with the Speaker of the House of Commons calling to order all that are present, followed by the name of the MP who has been chosen to speak first. That MP then stands and simply says “Number one, Mr. Speaker.” This has become standard for asking the Prime Minister “if he will list his engagements for the day.” The Prime Minister replies in typical fashion by saying, “ This morning I had meetings with ministerial …show more content…
Not once did the Prime Minister stutter or draw a blank in words. While it can be argued that the PMQs generate “more heat than light,” I felt Prime Minister Cameron answered nearly all of the questions asked of him in a concise and informative manner. Additionally, he was never discouraged by the jokes and was able to throw them right back at the opposition. It was very apparent that the Prime Minister and opposition leader, Ed Miliband, were not fans of one another, however both remained fairly well mannered not going too far when calling each other