I confess that I really don`t follow every twist and turn of parliamentary debate but I was intrigued to catch a snippet from the proceedings of the Liaison Committee the other day.   That`s the one when the Prime Minister of the day is questioned by the Chairmen or Chairpeople of the various Parliamentary Select Committees. The Liaison Committee considers the overall work of select committees, promotes effective scrutiny of Government and chooses committee reports for debates.   It questions the Prime Minister on policy issues, usually about three times a year.   

The main reason for my passing interest was that out local Member of Parliament here in Kent is Tom Tugendhat who is also Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and as such has an influential voice on the Liaison Committee and the other day he was questioning the Prime Minister about an area of policy and, reasonably enough, anticipated a straightforward answer.

The press report of that exchange suggested that Boris Johnson, perhaps not for the first time, seemed unprepared and responded to questions "with a waffly series of ill-prepared replies."  Tom spotted what the Prime Minister was up to and snapped, "I`m interested in the answers to my questions, not the ones you wished I had asked."   Boris referred to Tom as `Mr. Tugendhat,` which suggests that the pair of them, despite supposedly being on the same side, do not enjoy the best of relationships.

Shouldn`t be surprised at this or indeed at the Prime Minister`s apparently unconvincing responses to legitimate questions.  It`s the same at Prime Minister`s Questions every Wednesday in the House of Commons, where his answers are confined largely to bluster, equivocation and evasion.   Maybe it should be renamed Prime Minister`s Answers?