FOR TONY BLAIR, VERBAL ABUSE IS PART OF JOB

Sessions In Parliament Get Rowdy

London --- The prime minister was trying to speak and members of Parliament
were laughing in his face.

Iain Duncan Smith, the leader of the Conservatives, the leading opposition
party in the United Kingdom, had accused the government of being
responsible for an increase in drug use by school students.

"Drug taking in schools has risen by nearly a third since the present
government have been in power, all because they undermined head teachers,"
Duncan Smith lectured Prime Minister Tony Blair in what was, under
parliamentary rules, supposed to be a question.

"Linked to that, assaults on teachers have risen fivefold since the
government came to power," Duncan Smith continued. "Is it not a fact that
schools are more drug-infested and more violence-ridden as a direct result
of the way in which the government have undermined the discipline of
teachers and head teachers?"

As members of the Conservative Party chortled and jeered almost to the
point of drowning him out, Blair leapt to his feet.

"That is a pathetic attempt to exploit an issue which everybody knows is a
serious issue in schools," he told Duncan Smith angrily. "It is nonsense to
suggest that we have been lenient with people assaulting teachers in
schools. . . . As for drug taking in schools, if the government were
responsible, how does the right honorable gentleman account for the fact
that when the Conservatives were in power crime doubled and drug taking at
every level increased?"

The retort prompted noisy approval from members of Blair's Labor Party.

Wednesday afternoon's session subjected Blair to a level of questioning,
confrontation and even rudeness unimaginable for a U.S. president. Yet for
Blair, it was just another day at the office.

Every Wednesday afternoon when Parliament is in session, Blair participates
in Prime Minister's Question Time, a half-hour session when members of
Parliament, called MPs, can ask the head of government a question --- and
expect an answer. The leaders of the two opposition parties, Duncan Smith
for the Conservatives and Charles Kennedy for the Liberal Democrats, are
allowed follow-ups.

Question time is a time-honored tradition, a televised spectacle and a
jolly good show. Britons relish the accountability of requiring the head of
government to answer questions he or she might not like. Previous prime
ministers held two 15-minute question sessions per week. But shortly after
he took office, Blair changed that to one 30-minute session.

"Question time in the House of Commons is an important aspect of
parliamentary control of Government, when issues and grievances are raised
by MPs and information sought about the Government's plans," says the
Parliament's Web site. "Exchanges," the Web site goes on to note, "may
become heated, and this is often the spectacle presented on television."

Viewers can tune in not only in Britain but also in the United States,
where C-SPAN presents a rebroadcast of the program at 9 p.m. Sundays.

C-SPAN does not participate in viewership surveys but calls and letters
offer hints of how question time is received.

"The general sense here is that it is popular," said Susan Bundock, an
international producer at C-SPAN. "It is boisterous and humorous, and it's
the leader of their country subjecting himself week in and week out to that
kind of questioning from the legislature. I think viewers do appreciate
that that's unusual. And it's a really special sort of forum."

It certainly serves to keep the prime minister sharp. Blair, a master at
handling question time, is reported to spend two or three hours preparing
for each 30-minute session. This past week he handled questions on topics
as diverse as the shortage of affordable homes to rent, rising tensions
between India and Pakistan, the sovereignty of Gibraltar, subsidies to the
coal industry, music piracy and government support for scientific research.

He combined a use of language worthy of Bill Clinton with a grasp of detail
worthy of Jimmy Carter, and added a mastery of the cut and thrust of debate
that is particularly British.

But the system would not transfer well to the United States, said Bill
Schneider, a senior political analyst with CNN.

"I'm not sure it would work in this country because it has a very nasty,
hostile, partisan tone," Schneider said. "Remember the difference is, we
don't have a queen. The president is the country."

The U.S. president is the head of state and, in theory, the president of
all the people, Schneider said, while British prime ministers are still
very much party men.

Could the current U.S. president bear up under such intense questioning? "I
don't think many presidents would be able to bear up," Schneider said.
"Maybe Kennedy, maybe Clinton. But not many others."

But British prime ministers can --- and do.

Later in this past week's session, a conservative back-bencher asked Blair,
rather pointedly, "Why, according to the Institute for Management
Development, has Britain fallen from ninth to 19th in the world
competitiveness league since Labor took office?"

The question prompted much jeering and hilarity among Conservative members.
But Blair, familiar with the report in question, was ready with a riposte.

"Unfortunately for the honorable gentleman," he responded, "the same report
makes it clear that Britain will have a better growth record than any other
major economy anywhere in the world. I thank him for giving me an
opportunity to raise the issue of the economy.

"Britain now has the lowest inflation and the lowest interest rates for 40
years. Britain now has the lowest unemployment for nearly 30 years. Britain
has cut long-term unemployment massively, and I am pleased to say that
Britain's economy is set to grow more than any comparable economy this year.

"I thank the honorable gentleman for that question."

ON THE WEB: For more information: c-span.org/international/britain.asp

www.parliamentlive.tv/

www.parliament.uk/