PMQs live blog | 18 May 2011

VERDICT: That was probably the most straightforward PMQs that Ed Miliband will ever experience. Thanks to Ken Clarke, the Labour leader had several shots into an open goal — and most were excuted efficiently, if not skilfully. Cameron was left in an unforgiving position, and he just about hung in there, eventually mustering some sort of defence and then turning it around to Labour’s mismanagement of the criminal justice system. It was an intriguing exchange, not least because it presaged what could become a major problem for the Tories — their crime and justice policy — and how Labour might exploit it. And it was all supplemented by a set of backbench questions that ran the gamut from blistering to blithering. For once, a PMQs to really remember.

1231: And that’s it. My verdict shortly.

1230:
Much laughter as Cameron says that he had never heard of Mark Britnell — a man who was said to be advising him on the NHS, and who controversially suggested that Lansley’s reforms would show “no mercy” to the service.