PM: "Welsh government need to get their act together"
- Published
So there we were, standing by for the new-look, no-singing, no-dancing Prime Minister's Questions, where "yah-boo" politics was replaced by a Socratic dialogue on the major issues of the day.
Yes, was the first time MPs had the chance to question David Cameron, since Commons Speaker John Bercow wrote to the party leaders to ask them to clamp down on "yobbery and public school twittishness" during PMQs.
I suspect Mr Bercow may have been disappointed (although not surprised) as the traditional wall of noise accompanied most questions and answers. Occasionally, but only occasionally, a serious detailed question was listened to in respectful silence but otherwise it was largely business as usual.
There was cross-party consensus on the successes of Team GB at the Winter Olympics but little agreement on anything else. And while some things may change, others stay the same; a Conservative MP offered David Cameron a free hit at the Welsh government's record, one he felt unable to resist.
She wanted to know if David Cameron was as astounded as she was by the response of the NHS in Wales.
The prime minister said Sir Bruce's views should be respected and listened to by the NHS in Wales. He then went further, highlighting concerns raised by the Royal College of Surgeons:
"What they've (RCS) said today, what they're saying effectively, is there are people on NHS waiting lists who are dying in Wales because the waiting lists are too long and because the NHS isn't being properly managed, properly funded and properly reformed in Wales. That is a matter for the Labour Welsh assembly government and they need to get their act together."
The NHS in Wales may be devolved but - less than 15 months before the general election - it has seldom been as high on the agenda of the main governing party at Westminster.