Emily Thornberry outshines Damian Green – and Corbyn – at PMQs

Mrs May couldn’t make PMQs today. She was lunching with royalty up at the Palace. The happy atmosphere of the event may have been affected by territorial anxieties. The Queen’s principal guest, King Felipe VI, reigns over important parts of the Spanish mainland but not the pointy little bit down at the bottom which is full of pubs and red phone boxes. MPs were keen to ask the government to re-assert Britain’s possession of Gibraltar. And some believe that this claim should extend to other historically British regions: Malaga, Torremolinos and Ibiza.

Mrs May’s place was taken by the recently elevated Damian Green. His personality is like his skull. Smooth, well-rounded, essentially featureless. He’s a nice, clever, uninspiring technocrat who described himself today as ‘a moderate person’. This is the key to his promotion. He could never excite the public one way or another and his name rarely features in those lists of possible challengers to the PM.