Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons - Punch & Judy politics: an insiders guide to Prime Minsters questions

T his book could not have been written without Ed Miliband and Harriet Harman, who gave both of us roles behind the scenes preparing for PMQs and learning its secrets. Its a huge privilege to have had this unique and very special experience. If wed been better at our jobs, we might still be helping them prepare for PMQs even now, in government the non-existence of this book would be one of the least notable features of that alternative political timeline. The book would also not exist without Iain Dale, Olivia Beattie and the rest of the team at Biteback Publishing, who saw the projects potential and stuck with it, and us, through a series of missed deadlines, stand-up tours and an unexpected general election.

We are still astonished at how many leading figures, including several who were on the opposite side to us during our time working on PMQs, generously agreed to give us their time and their insights: former Prime Ministers and Leaders of the Opposition who have taken part in the leaders joust; MPs who have asked questions, heckled from the back benches or even stood in for their leaders; advisers who have helped prepare both sides; journalists who have watched from the press gallery and given their instant verdicts; and the Speaker of the House of Commons, who runs the whole show. Several of the people we spoke to for this book have performed more than one of these roles at different stages of their careers; perhaps some will go on to perform more of them in future.

Our thanks go to John Bercow, Gabby Bertin, Theo Bertram, Tony Blair, Kevin Brennan, Vince Cable, David Cameron, Alastair Campbell, Jo Coburn, John Crace, Angela Eagle, Danny Finkelstein, Miranda Green, Bruce Grocott, William Hague, Harriet Harman, Paddy Hennessy, Rob Hutton, Sean Kemp, Neil Kinnock, Ian Lavery, Alison McGovern, Ed Miliband, Joe Murphy, George Osborne, Bob Roberts, Tim Shipman, Dennis Skinner, Anna Soubry, Ann Treneman and John Whittingdale. Were grateful to all of them, and to their staff members who helped arrange interviews, as well as to the current and former politicians and advisers who spoke to us on condition of anonymity: they know who they are, and they know how grateful we are. Throughout the book, for ease of reference it should be assumed that unless otherwise attributed all quotations, including anonymous quotations, are taken from our interviews.

We are grateful, too, to those who kindly agreed to read the manuscript at different points in its gestation. Sarah Coombes, James Hamilton, Rob Hutton, Catherine MacLeod, Dominic Murphy (a former custodian of the David Cameron quotes catalogue, as well as regular compiler of the bucket of shit see Chapter 3), James Robinson, Jonathan Simons and Josh Simons read drafts of some or all of the book and made invaluable comments. Any errors that remain are, of course, entirely our responsibility.

Ayesha Hazarika would like to thank Iain Dale for being such a good friend since she left politics (even though hes wrong on most things) and Tom for being a great person to work with. Again!

Tom Hamilton would like to thank Sarah Hamilton, for her constant love, support and encouragement in this project as in everything, as well as for her constructive comments on the manuscript; and William, who made no constructive comments at all, on any of it.