Consensus reigns over PMQs

A very different PMQs this week: six questions on foreign affairs and almost total consensus between Cameron and Miliband. Miliband’s office had given No 10 advance warning of the topics they wanted to raise and the two agreed on pretty much everything. Miliband argued that ‘the best route to stability is through democracy.’ Cameron agreed but stressed that democracy means more than just elections. You get the picture. At the risk of disagreeing with Pete, I must say that the exchanges were a reminder of just how dull PMQs would be if it was not confrontational.

For Miliband, the advantage in taking this more considered approach today was that it gave him a chance to remind everyone that he had been to Afghanistan recently, boosting his foreign policy credentials. While I suspect that Cameron was quite glad not to have to spend the morning doing PMQs prep.