Cameron takes charge at PMQs

Brown looked dejected, buffeted and battered by events. Cameron looked confident, in charge of them. The Tory leader kicked off asking why all new claims can’t be put online? (Ben Wallace did so ages ago, and was hated by many in his party, but Cameron backed him). Brown’s response was in auto-garble, speaking as if reading the small print from an insurance advert. “We need to have outside bodies” – what difference in the language they use.

Problem is, the second homes allowance is just one scam. Cameron then went to another one: what about the “communications allowance?” It’s a mechanism to allow Labour MPs in marginal seats to respond to Lord Ashcroft’s marginal seat campaign funding. Brown uttered something non-committal, then Cameron came back: in this time of austerity, “how does he justify the £10,000 communications allowance?” Brown then dons the hair shirt. “I have myself refused the pension that is able to be given to any serving PM” – well, the pension is given to retired PMs and, actually, he hasn’t refused it.