PMQs: rules, traditions and defining moments

Prime Minister’s Questions returned today after a stop-start few months interrupted by the Tory leadership election, summer recess, the Queen’s death and party conference season.

Liz Truss, who had taken part in just one PMQs since she was elected as leader of the Tory party and prime minister in early September, faced a second bruising round of questions, this time on her tax-cutting growth plan.

Keir Starmer accused her of being “lost in denial” about the impact of her policies on mortgage rates. Even the “guttural welcome” from her own MPs was “unconvincing and overwrought”, said Freddie Hayward at The New Statesman.

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What is PMQs?

Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) sees the prime minister of the day answer questions from MPs on a wide range of issues but “what began as a sedate affair under Harold Macmillan has now become the centrepiece of the weekly parliamentary calendar”, said The Spectator.

Informally established in the 1880s, PMQs, as it is now known, was held over two 15-minute sessions on Tuesdays and Thursday from the late 1950s until 1997, when Tony Blair changed it to a weekly half-hour slot at midday every Wednesday that parliament is sitting.

The session normally starts with a routine “open question” from an MP about the prime minister’s engagements. Following a response, the MP then raises a particular issue, often one of current political significance.

The real exchange then begins with the leader of the opposition following up on this or another topic, being permitted to ask a total of six questions. They are the only MP allowed to come back with further questions.

The PM will then take questions from MPs who have entered their names on the Order Paper and are called by the Speaker to ask an untabled, supplementary question. “This means, in theory, that the prime minister will not know what questions will be asked of them,” said Parliament.uk. “However, the prime minister will be extensively briefed by government departments in anticipation of likely subjects they could be asked about.”

If the prime minister is away on official business, their role is usually filled by the deputy prime minister if one is appointed.

What are some PMQs traditions?

Parliament has many bizarre regulations and conventions but “watch PMQs and you’ll spot one of the more baffling traditions as MPs stand up and sit down in quick succession”, reported National World.

In order to participate in a debate or ask the PM a question in the Commons, “MPs have to stand, or half-rise to catch the Speaker’s eye – and then wait until they are called upon to speak,” said i news site. “They will then have to remain standing when addressing the room, unless they are not able to stand in which case they can remain sat on the bench”.

A more recent development is applauding an outgoing prime minister at their final PMQs – the only time clapping is permitted in the House of Commons.

The practice was started for the outgoing Tony Blair and continued through successive PMs until this year, when Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer “decided to bring that tradition, now 15 years old, to an end” and not applaud Boris Johnson as he signed off as prime minister, reported The Telegraph.

Does it matter?

The Institute for Government has described PMQs as “the most distinctive and internationally famous feature of British politics” but, as Blair wrote in his memoirs, it was also the “most nerve-racking, discombobulating, nail-biting, bowel-moving, terror-inspiring, courage-draining experience in my prime ministerial life without question”.

PMQs has been “a punishing, weekly punctuation point” for every prime minister of recent times, said Ailbhe Rea on Politico’s Westminster Insider podcast. “Whatever the political backdrop, be it sex scandals or police investigation, foreign wars or backbench rebellions the prime minister is dragged to chamber every Wednesday at 12 o’clock to face the music.”

“Over the years there have been numerous zingers, gaffes, probing questions and shameless defences, contributing to the public’s perception and understanding of its leaders in the cockpit of British democracy,” said The Spectator.

Sometimes an exchange at the despatch box can move the political needle. One such example is Blair’s famous put-down of John Major in 1995: “I lead my party, he follows his”, over his inability to control his anti-European backbenchers. Major later described it in his memoirs as “the best one-liner he ever used against me” and it proved so effective precisely because the Conservative leader was in a weak position with a divided and fractious parliamentary party.

Another defining moment is David Cameron’s quip to Blair in his first PMQs, “you were the future once,” which cemented his position among both Tory MPs and the public as the true “heir to Blair”, said the New Statesman.

Yet more often than not what happens at PMQs fails to make an impression on the wider public.

William Hague who, as leader of the Tory party from 1997 to 2001, often got the better of Blair, said his PMQs performances did him no good electorally and there has long been a sense that those in the Westminster bubble place more importance on it than it deserves.

“Robust and aggressive performances at PM’s Questions boost the morale of backbenchers sitting behind you and party supporters in the country and can affect media assessments of a prime minister’s image,” said the Institute for Government, “but they seldom make any impact outside”.