PMQs: A session soon to be lost in the Budget smog

Normally when a Leader of the Opposition prepares for the Prime Minister’s Questions before a Budget, it comes second to the prep for the difficult Budget response and focuses on a slightly random topic. The difference between this session and a normal PMQs is usually rather marked. But when Jeremy Corbyn rose today to ask his questions, his chosen topic of air pollution wasn’t all that more eccentric than his usual range of subjects. 

David Cameron’s team does have to prepare a wider range of topics – albeit in less detail – for PMQs now that Corbyn is Labour leader. But even they hadn’t thought of air pollution: Cameron had to answer his first question by saying he didn’t have the figures that the Labour leader requested to hand. Corbyn, clad in what appears to be a suit Mary Cameron would approve of, didn’t do a bad job. But he and everyone else won’t remember the questions and answers for many more  minutes.