PMQs

Like most, I have to wait until I return home from work before getting a chance to catch the day's PMQs. Having read a few posts through the afternoon, i switched on the TV anticipating a Brown bloodbath.

Yet, i was slightly underwhelmed by Cameron's performance. The subject of Jacqui Smith's ill-thought policy for stabbers to visit the stabbed didn't quite suit his oft-used line of attack that Brown is all calculation, unable to be straight with the British public. I also thought his connection of the fuel duty freeze to Glasgow East was a little weak. It was only on the subject of MP's expenses that Cameron really made Brown look uneasy, but even here Labour backbenchers had only to point to the Wintertons.

As Fraser Nelson rightly points out, Cameron is undoubtedly at his best when delivering his acerbic off-the-cuff put-downs. His quick-witted retorts keep Brown constantly on the back foot, swiftly heading off any line of attack he attempts. Today was no exception, and he brutally dealt with the PM's mocking of the "Vote Blue, Go Green" slogan. But in between these gems the debate was tepid.

Undoubtedly a win for Cameron, but these days that's the minimum acceptable standard. It says much for his and the Tory Party's performance over the past year that this is the case.