23 June 2007
Question Time Shoes
Tony Blair is going to finally step down this week as Prime Minister of Great Britain, and consequently there are stories in the press all over the Commonwealth about his prospective legacy. There are informed accounts that say he is going to convert to the Church of Rome, be designated a UN Ambassador without portfolio and other opportunities.
He has one more challenge to get through, one more installment of Prime Minister’s Question time.
The Parliamentary system has some interesting quirks, from an American perspective. One of them is that the PM is just another Member who happens to be elected by his party to be The Man. As such, he is required to stand before the Commons at regular intervals, when that body is seated, and answer any fool question put before him by the opposition.
They call the ones who offer up the obvious “patsies” in the UK, and “Dorothy Dixers” here in Australia, after the American journalist who ran an advice to the lovelorn column in the first half of the last century. In Australian parlance, it has come to mean a question with a patently obvious answer, or “a softball.”
It does not always work out that way, and sometimes the Prime Minister is left with having to tell something like the truth to the House as a whole. He also has to do it himself. No press secretaries need apply. It is the man, unvarnished.
Question Time in London happens at noon every Wednesday that parliament is in session. It usually starts off with a routine question from an MP about the Prime Minister's engagements, and following the answer, can go straight for the jugular. The Leader of the Opposition then follows up on any topic he feels like. He and he other party leader- that is another quirk, not having only two parties- can address any topic they wish. The Leaders are the only MPs allowed to come back with further questions, and they can become quite heated in tone.
Question Time is particularly important as a venue for the nation to see how its leaders handle themselves, and the questions. It is widely regarded as a key measure of their overall performance. It is stylized, of course, but reality television in a way that is quite striking.
It is a cool tradition. PM John Howard has to do it here in Australia on the question of the Aboriginal Scandal, and I was fascinated by how he carried it off. He has an election looming, and his conservative party is lagging in the polls.
Mr. Blair is a master of Question Time, and I have seen him work his magic since CSPAN will occasionally televise Question Time for its context on bilateral affairs and sheer entertainment.
We would not have had Mr. Bush for two terms if he had to stand in the House of Representatives and answer pointed questions about what he was doing, since I am pretty confident that he does not know.
Which is not to say that he, or dozens of other former Presidents were not swell guys with the best of intentions. Question Time blows the inarticulate away. It is really impressive to see how the PM has to be on top of the issues, and the thickness of the tabbed binder on the table in front of him he has for ready reference to the obscure.
The PM is responsible for governing, and explaining how he is doing so each Wednesday.
It is rough and tumble. The guffaws and shouts of derision when the PM dissembles is grating to the American ear, since we only get to see our Presidents in carefully controlled environments, and they only have to call a Press Conference when they feel like it.
Mr. Bush doesn’t like them. I think he thinks they make him seem foolish and shallow.
Go figure.
Anyway, the story of the day is that Tony Blair has a bit of a superstition about Question time. He has worn the same pair of shoes to Parliament for each Question Time he has appeared on since he was first elected in 1997. Actually, the shoes predate his appearance at Question Time, since the PM says he has had this pair of Church’s hand-made brogues for eighteen years.
The paper says they have only been re-soled once.
The venerable shoe company was founded by three brothers in 1873, and they are among he best and most fashionable shoes on earth. The pair Mr. Blair has been wearing cost around $300 when he got them, and they have doubled in cost since then. He was quoted as saying that “cheap shoes are a false economy,” and I have to agree with him.
As he strides off the political stage this week, I hope his shoes have the same burnished gleam that they did long ago, and that his ability to answer questions is undiminished for years to come.
I have to say that it would be useful for the Presidents to have to answer up a little more regularly on the issues, and I don’t care what sort of cowboy boot they are wearing when they do it.
Copyright 2007 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com