Question Time at threatened arts centre

A WIRRAL audience grilled the panel on BBC One’s Question Time programme last night.

Liverpool-born former nurse Nadine Dorries was among those who faced questions on Gordon Brown’s status as a world-saving super hero and plans to hide cigarettes in shops.

Now Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire, Mrs Dorries was joined by journalist and broadcaster Esther Rantzen, Labour’s schools minister Jim Knight, Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik and author Will Self.

The show was staged in the theatre at Birkenhead’s Pacific Road Arts Centre – earmarked for closure by Wirral Council, along with dozens of other cultural venues to slash costs.

Referring to the Prime Minister’s slip in the House of Commons on Wednesday, audience member Rachel Williams asked: “Is Gordon Brown saving the world, saving the British economy or saving himself?”

Mrs Dorries received one of the biggest bouts of applause of the show when she answered: “Because every household is tightening its belt and making savings, government should be doing the same.”