May turns back the clock to the Cameron and Osborne era at PMQs

During the general election campaign, Theresa May was strikingly reluctant to defend the Tories’ economic record. But today at PMQs, Theresa May sounded like the man she sacked as Chancellor as soon as she became PM. She defended the Tories economic record with vigour, pointing out how much progress the party had made in reducing the deficit it inherited from Labour and even chucking in a reference to Greece for good measure. It was like going back to 2014.

The Tory benches lapped up this return to the old religion. May was also helped by the fact that Jeremy Corbyn didn’t make as much of the money that the Tories have found for the DUP deal as he should have done. This extra cash for Northern Ireland, undoubtedly, makes it harder for the Tories to make the case for fiscal restraint. But Corbyn didn’t press that point today.

Since the elections, PMQs has taken on a new importance.