AS the People’s Question-Time continued with indirect contributions from Iain, Lisette and Esther, the Tory toff could not help introducing a bit of old-time Punch and Judy to poke fun at the chief comrade; Jeremy Corbyn that is, not President Xi.
Film devotees will know October 21 2015 was the date when the intrepid Marty McFly and Doc Brown from the movie franchise Back to the Future travelled through time to the 21st century from their present day of 1985 in a quirky-looking DeLorean sports car.
Declaring his devotion to Britain’s nuclear arsenal, Dave could not help remarking how Jezza was a leading member of CND – promoted to vice-president no less - and had broken the usual parliamentary pro-Trident consensus.
“Today,” noted the PM, “we are celebrating that great film Back to the Future. I am not surprised that many people sitting behind him say that he should get in his DeLorean, go back to 1985 and stay there!”
As the Tory berserkers whooped with glee, the chief comrade peered over his glasses with disdain.
It is quite clear Mr C - back in his ill-fitting brown jacket after the previous night’s Fred Astaire white tie and tails - has decided to adopt a headmasterly tone with those silly Tory boys from the Bullingdon Club.
There were heated exchanges on tax credits and Dave, “delighted” by his side winning the previous night’s vote to introduce the cuts, asked JC to explain the strange absence from it of Labour’s deputy leader, one Tom Watson.
As the Conservatives raised a collective cry of exaggerated bewilderment, the chief comrade began replying and paused amid the hullabaloo. As the noise eventually eased, Jezza politely snapped: “Thank you,” and Headmaster Corbyn continued.
Later, Martyn Day, the SNP’s champion for Linlithgow and East Falkirk, suggested that when it came to the PM’s EU reform negotiations Scotland should be represented ahead of the key Brussels summit in December.
It was quite clear Dave was not really interested in the question but that the questioner was a Nationalist and so, delightedly, reminded him of the No vote in last year’s referendum.
And with the supreme comrade in town, the PM pointed out how among the “golden era” deals being done with China was one to the tune of £2 billion in his very own constituency by Europe’s biggest bus-maker, Alexander Dennis.
But the SNP benches reacted in excited disbelief because the PM had slipped up; the deal in question was not in Mr Day’s but, wait for it, the neighbouring one of Falkirk.
The animated Nationalist reaction earned a mild rebuke from the Speaker, who asked SNP MPs to “calm themselves”. Jezza, meantime, was very calm, playing with his iphone.
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