(D)PMQs Verdict – Poor Nick discovers on his big day that he’s not so important after all

Nick Clegg was certainly in confident form today, puffing his chest out, lobbing “it’s all Labour’s fault” grenades around the chamber and even toying with grumpy Tory backbenchers. It was, by the admittedly low standards of the Lib Dem leader, a decent performance. By the end he was leaning of the dispatch box as if he owned the place.

The problem for the Clegger though is that he will never, in a million years, own the place. Even today when it was his turn to grab the limelight, he wasn’t even the biggest show in town – Cameron still was. Nick is only being allowed to play with David’s toys whilst he’s on holiday, riding around on a London bus with Prince Harry.

What japes…

The problem that Nick Clegg faces is that there is very little that anyone can ask him at (D)PMQs, so everyone ends up trying to score political points – apart from his own MPs who line up to tell him how dreamy he is. He is, alas, the man without a department or a mission. Now that constitutional reform has disappeared down the u-bend of coalition life, he’s not responsible for anything of note, and in all likelihood never will be. Harriet Harman decided to skewer David Cameron for his lack of interest in PMQs (missing 7 of the last 8 Wednesdays) rather than bring the DPM to account, because – frankly – what would she have asked?

One suspects that there are only so many times he can be asked why he’s such a Tory lickspittle, what Dorneywood (or was it Chevening?) is like and how everyone in the Cabinet Office is getting on. That sounds like it would be rather dull.

The reality of today’s events was the same as it has been since May 2010. The Tories didn’t win a majority. The Lib Dems haven’t asserted themselves on government or achieved much – but they have infuriated and stymied the Tory Right on a number of touchstone issues. All of which leaves Nick Clegg impotent, cheered and heckled in equal measure.

And probably left most members on all sides of the house wondering why they hadn’t followed the PMs lead, and avoided PMQs altogether…