It was a subdued David Cameron we saw in PMQs today, which is understandable after last week. He’ll need all the arrows he can get in George Osborne’s quiver next Monday. The aim is to make the economy a real issue, hence he went on case studies of businesses denied credit – details later released to journalists. So the aim wasn’t really to get on the lunchtime or evening news but to tee up a narrative for the press. We can expect build-up ahead of the PBR. Gordon Brown was also lower-key: he lost his cool last week over Baby P and paid dearly for it. So a fairly dull exchange, but interesting for the following points:
1) Morale barometer. Labour benches very animated. From my perch, it was striking: Labour were noisy, animated, shouting for more and jeering at the Tories who were quiet, sombre and not always on cue with their applause.
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