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MNHQ

Think PMQs is outdated, unprofessional and needs to change? Mumsnet petition this way.

16 replies

JustineMumsnet · 25/06/2014 13:43

Hi all

Following on from our survey into the UK's political culture and the subsequent webchat with the women MPs from the three main parties, one issue that came up repeatedly was Prime Minister's Questions. While 61% of you felt that they offered an opportunity for MPs to hold the government to account, only 13% of you thought they weekly sessions were actually effective. 76% of you thought they were unprofessional and outdated, and half of you (50%) believed they actually damaged Parliament's reputation. As CalamitouslyWrong put it: "[we] might as well get some preschoolers to call each other poo-heads and be done with it."

David Cameron said he was "fed up with the Punch and Judy politics of Westminster" wanting to change "the name calling, backbiting, point scoring, finger pointing" and Prime Ministers can change PMQs unilaterally - Tony Blair went from 2 sessions a week, to one longer session in 1997. So we think he should fulfil his promise and look at the the process of PMQs now.

So we’ve launched a petition asking David Cameron to give this huge Parliamentary showcase a refresh.

The Hansard Society has proposed a a few changes to the format, including rapid-fire Q&As, more open questions, taking questions directly from voters via social media, and penalties for MPs who behave badly. And we're asking for David Cameron to pilot these changes and so improve the way parliament works.

Hope you can sign up and, as always, if you want to make some noise about this on social media, that would be fantastic.

Justine

Go to post

MNHQ

KatieMumsnet · 25/06/2014 19:28

Hi AnneEyhtMeyer

You can see the full survey here. As you can see we gave four positive options and three negative options, and Justine highlighted the positive results in her OP.

It's always tricky with surveys to get the balance right, but we do try our best.

Realise the petition won't be for everyone, but PMQs is quite a symbolic thing that lots of people don't like it or find an embarrassment, so we thought we'd just raise the idea of trying a few small things to see if they improve it.

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 27/06/2014 23:24

Hi there,
84% of Mumsnetters who responded to our survey on Westminster culture backed the Hansard Society’s proposal to vary the format of PMQs, including introducing rapid-fire Q&As and more open questions.

That's why we've started the petition. Of course you don't have to agree with it, or sign it but the evidence was pretty clear that lots of folk do.

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 29/06/2014 12:11

@Givealittlerespect

Justine , answering a bland questionnaire is one thing...using that to alter a very important part of our political process is myopic and unacceptable.

Cameron would bite your arm off to get out of answering uncomfortable questions about why he is ruining the NHS

Are we to take it that MUMSNET is Tory ... ? Are they anti NHS. ?

if so I'm out and we should start an anti petition.

But this petition is NOT about scrapping PMQs - where does it say that anywhere? - it's about making the scrutiny (which I completely agree is a good thing) more effective. As well making parliament less off-putting to the majority (and especially to women).

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 29/06/2014 13:52

@OTheHugeManatee

Miscarriage care...good, fine , carry on.

Ill thought through political lobbying riding off the popularity of the well known website previously known to be taken note of by the press and political leaders...not on

Don't use us in a way we don't know we are being used because I certainly don't back PMQS reform and although members may have answered in a certain way to the questionnaire,(? Did they know their responses would be used in this way ) that does not give the green light to lobby for this change in our name.

Hear hear.

So, Justine, when are you going to answer the question about why you think it's acceptable to start manufacturing fake MN mandates to support your personal crusades and build your own clout as a lobbyist?

Seriously, this exercise treats MNers like idiot sheep to be exploited. It's insulting and frankly unacceptable.

I don't think there's anything fake about the mandate to ask for reform OTheHugeManatee - we surveyed users the majority answered in a pretty unequivocal way. We're reflecting that call by putting out a petition (which incidentally has to be done by an individual) that you can choose to sign or not...

I do happen to agree with the majority that answered our questionnaire that PMQs could be improved in it's effectiveness in holding the PM to scrutiny, and that the boorish behaviour of many elected members of parliament during the session is very off-putting and alienating. But it's certainly not a personal crusade or anything I've got involved in before.

You don't happen to agree with that, which of course is your prerogative - should you have the right to dictate what next though, simply because you don't agree?

At the end of the day you can do as many surveys as you like but what's the point of them, if you don't then try to change things based on the results...

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 29/06/2014 13:59

And, incidentally, the reason we decided to do a survey about Westminster culture was because of the results of the big report we did last autumn with Mori into women and politics, which included qualitative research on Mumsnet and quant research involving a representative sample of UK women, which revealed much the same results - women put off by a Westminster culture - epitomised by PMQs - that they viewed as alien, childish and ineffective.

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 29/06/2014 14:02

Over 1200 Mumsnetters filled in this survey. Mori's polling would have been of many more than that, and as I say was of a weighted, representative sample of women voters. .

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 29/06/2014 17:15

@OTheHugeManatee

The questions were incredibly leading. The respondents were self-selecting. You manufactured the mandate. I'm a long-time poster and generally think MN campaigns are great but you're being incredibly disingenuous on your motives for this one.

If it's not a personal crusade then on whose behalf who are you lobbying? I refuse to believe it's that of MN, because unlike all other MN campaigns I've ever seen this one didn't originate on the boards. No-one on MN asked you to do this campaign and indeed many people think it's pretty silly. So who are you really doing this for, Justine?

Did someone at the Hansard Society ask you for a favour, are you angling for a board position somewhere, what is it?

Here's the link to the questions and answers. Can you explain how they were leading?

This originated from a body of work done over the last year. I'm just going to ignore your question about the Hansard Society, frankly, because it's bloody rude.

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 29/06/2014 17:18

@AnneEyhtMeyer

1200 people? That is a drop in the ocean in MN member numbers!

And you cannot say that it was a sample of women because it is a gender-anonymous site. How can it be claimed to be a representative sample of UK women? You don't know if the respondents were women, whether they live in the UK, and what their demographic is. Please don't compare a MN poll with Mori, it makes you look daft.

The questions were leading, the premise is shaky. This is embarrassing.

I didn't say our survey was representative of UK women - I said the work with did with Mori on this issue in the Autumn - in which they conducted a quantitate of a representative weighted sample of UK women voters was representative of UK women. The results were pretty similar - showed a deep disaffection with Westminster and UK politics particularly amongst women.

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 29/06/2014 17:26

@Givealittlerespect

Wiki says MUMSNET has 4.6 million unique visitors per month and 5000 bloggers

1200/4.6million x100% = 0.026 % of Mumsnetters

So not in anyway representative and this should be made very clear

1000+ responses is generally viewed by market research professionals as a reasonable sample size - of course not 100% accurate - on a weighted survey it would be expected to have a margin of error of 3% and of course ours was not a completely random sample of mn users - it's was highlighted mostly on active conversations. The the MORI one was from last Autumn was however.

But you're wrong to say it's "not in any way representative". You can read more about sample sizes here.

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 30/06/2014 09:05

@OTheHugeManatee

"Here's the link to the questions and answers. Can you explain how they were leading?"

Are you going to tell me that "Do you think that the atmosphere of PMQs is unprofessional & outdated?" is not a leading question?

I agree with you, that is indeed a leading question but it wasn't how we actually asked the question! link again here

We asked:
Thinking about PMQs, do you agree or not....

there are 7 answer options - 4 of them are positive about PMQs, 3 of them are negative.

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 30/06/2014 09:08

@OTheHugeManatee

I think you're also ignoring it because you don't want to discuss where the impetus originated for this 'MN campaign'. Because it wasn't from MN. And that traduces the idea of MN (and you) acting as the mouthpiece for concerns widely shared by ordinary women. That's a powerful idea that has already done a lot of good in many ways and I'm really hacked off that you are exploiting it like this.

No, I'm very happy to discuss this with you - as evidenced by this thread. But the implication that this whole campaign is about my personal agenda/vanity/wish to gain a board position is rude and not worth answering IMHO. It's also wrong.

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 30/06/2014 09:25

@OTheHugeManatee

Basically here you've picked up something that you (or the Hansard Society, or whoever you're really doing this for) are concerned about, gone looking via MN for some ordinary women who can be made to look concerned about it, then dressed the resulting campaign up as originating from MN and used MN as an amplifier. That's ultimately what I'm annoyed about: it's bogus, and exploitative of a community that is fundamentally powered by goodwill and genuine exchange of views. In my professional life I have worked around online communities for years and I can tell you that if you carry in using MN cynically like this as a soapbox or lobbying amplifier you will in the end hollow out any moral force that 'the voice of MN' might have to campaign for change anywhere, and ultimately damage or destroy the willingness of your community to contribute their voices.

I'm bowing out now as I don't think there is much point in continuing to rehash this point and have it ignored. But please go back to real MN campaigns, Justine.

We campaign/ get involved with lots of issues - libel reform, family friendly work, everyday sexism, better sex education for children, better childcare solutions - which aren't directly the result of a specific demand on a specific thread but are clearly part of our users' everyday concerns and where there appears to be a pretty clear majority/ consensus. Often our involvement will be led by a survey we've done.

Of course there are our other campaigns - We Believe You, This is My Child, Miscarriage Care, Bounty Mutiny - which are more of the organic type of issue you are referring to but by no means all of what we engage with government and other organisations about is limited to that type of campaign.

This political culture, PMQs issue fits into the former category.

I'm sorry you clearly doubt our motives here. There's not a lot, it seems, that I'm going to do to convince you otherwise but am really not trying to avoid your questions.

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 30/06/2014 10:32

@enyaheadress

Whoops I seem to have put the wrong point forward at the wrong discussion :/

Nice to see such an active discussion OtheHugeManatee and Justine!

Not at all Enya - it's us who were going a bit off tangent!

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 01/07/2014 12:24

@JugglingFromHereToThere

Just saw you on the Daily Politics Justine - great stuff!

Don't want to get rid of it, but it could be so much better, and less off-putting to many, was the gist I picked up?

Thanks Juggling, and yes that is about the size of it!

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 01/07/2014 18:06

@OTheHugeManatee

Ah, sod it. One final post

You say reform of PMQs comes into this category. I agree that it's not the result of a specific demand on a specific thread - absolutely - but 'clearly part of our users' everyday concerns'? Really?

Yes I'd say there was considerable discussion/lamenting of how out of touch politicians are/ how there aren't enough women MPs/ how govn. would would be better women in the cabinet. Obviously not as much lamenting as there is about M-i-ls but not sure we could make an inroads on them...

@OTheHugeManatee

See, where you say discuss, I still see evasiveness. I will take your word for it that this whole campaign is not about your personal agenda or desire for a board position somewhere. But my core concern was that someone has asked you to do this and that you're being disingenuous about the origins of the campaign. Has someone (say, the Hansard Society, or Ed Balls, or whoever) asked you to do this campaign? That question you haven't addressed. Why?

Ok I think I have answered re Hansard etc but just to be completely clear...

No one asked us to campaign on this issue - it's not anyone elses' agenda. The idea for the survey into political culture, as I've said a couple of times, came out of the report we did last Autumn with Mori - which was a kind of state of the nation thing (re women and politics). The idea for that was mine and I approached Mori myself but it was very much with a view to see what was going on, rather than with any particular agenda.

It revealed lots of disaffection/ disillusionment with the parties, the leaders and the entire political process. We wanted to explore that more so we did our survey. When they saw our survey results Change.org, who we've worked with on a few things before, suggested we put a petition up. The Hansard Society evidence merely chimed with our own and given that they'd done a lot of work on actual measures might be changed, it made sense to put some of the suggestions in their report to MNetters in our survey.

@OTheHugeManatee

See, if you were to just say 'OK, look, the Hansard Society wanted to campaign on these issues and here's why we agree with them that it'd be a good thing so we said we'd run a campaign and here's the survey that says loads of MNers agree too' I'd shrug my shoulders and say 'meh, OK, I disagree but whevs, free country.' It's the nagging worry that the campaign originates from someone or somewhere else and that you're not being honest about the role of regular MNers in what is being presented as a MN campaign about issues that MNers feel is of concern.

Fair enough, I can't do much about nagging concerns/suspicions etc - not fair enough to continue to assert something as fact that's simply not true IMHO.

@OTheHugeManatee

But I should let this go and do some jeffing work. I don't want to end up looking like I'm on some kind of crusade myself

At the end of the day it's your website, innit

Well I came up with MN but really, truly have never wanted or believed I could use it to pursue a personal agenda, so forgive me if I've reacted quite robustly - I do feel quite strongly about it I suppose but I hope you don't feel picked on (am conscious that I have the advantage of a quote facility . Thanks for your input - I do think all the questions you've raised are perfectly valid.

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 01/07/2014 18:11

@AnneEyhtMeyer

So Justine will reply to a compliment but not to OTheHuge's question? Says it all really.

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