David Cunliffe has all the answers for Bill English

While answers to patsy oral questions in Parliament are predictable, the Opposition was able to give the replies to a series of queries before they were so much as put to Finance Minister Bill English today.

Patsies are gentle lobbed questions posed by a Government MP, which give a minister an open microphone to go on about the wonderful things they have done, or intend doing.

But that all went astray today, when Labour MP David Cunliffe obtained a copy of questions National MP Craig Foss was to put to Finance Minister Bill English, plus the answers.

Initially the Foss questions were very nearly skipped altogether, when Mr Cunliffe tabled them in the House and moved Parliament save time and bypass the topic.

In the end, Speaker of the House Lockwood Smith let Mr Foss go ahead and he did so, with Mr Cunliffe lip-synching the answers, then objecting to the Speaker about responses Mr English had not had a chance to give.

After Mr Cunliffe reeled off a looming question and its intended answer in a point of order, Mr English quickly dropped the written lines and opted for his own words.

Mr Cunliffe wouldn't tell NZPA how he got the questions and answers but said it was not in Copperfields, a cafe at Parliament where Labour's Trevor Mallard once found a folder of Government policies which he delighted in releasing before the Government had a chance to.

- NZPA