Miliband’s jibes throw Cameron off course

After last week’s PMQs, Ed Miliband needed a clear win today—and he got one. Cameron, who had admittedly just flown back from Afghanistan, didn’t seem on top of the whole tuition fees debate and kept using lines that invited Labour to ridicule the Lib Dems. When Cameron tried to put Miliband down with the line, ‘he sounds like a student politician—and that’s all he’ll ever be’, Miliband shot back that “I was a student politician but I wasn’t hanging around with people who were throwing bread rolls and wrecking restaurants.” It was a good line and threw Cameron off for the final exchange.
 
The rest of the session was not a cracker. One concerned Tory backbencher asked Cameron about the dilution of Tory policy on knife crime, Nigel Dodds asked a rather witty question that compared the Lib Dems to FIFA and Cameron had a good joke about how Jack Dromey was “one of the brothers selected on an all women shortlist and next time he should come dressed appropriately.”
 
As Pete noted this morning, The Sun’s campaign against Ken Clarke on knife crime is a big moment for the government. Today’s front page will have made Clarke even more determined to press on, he’s a contrary type who loves a fight, but Number 10 will be keen to placate its most reliable media ally. It’ll be fascinating to see how Cameron tries to square this circle.