PMQs Verdict: Miliband’s old faithful, Cameron’s tractor stats and a murder suspect

Miliband couldn’t keep on asking about energy prices forever. He’d had five weeks out of that issue at PMQs, and it was beginning to lose salience (in Westminster, outside the bubble it’s still as salient as salient can be).

A new weapon was called for. A new cudgel with which to thwack the Prime Minister.

The NHS came to hand almost immediately – Miliband’s old faithful – and it was like these weeks of energy price freeze had never happened. The old script was back. Same old Tories. You can’t trust the Tories with the NHS. A&E in crisis. Waiting lists and waiting times.

All of it worthy, but not particularly surprising or captivating.

Cameron hit back, angry, SHOUTY, full of indignation. Crimson tide was replaced by crimson tidal wave. And then, to prove just Howard nary he was, he read out a pre-prepared list of figures. It’s a trick he fell back on several times today. Perhaps Gordon Brown can call him up, and give him a bit of advice – PM to PM – it doesn’t work. People don’t believe your “tractor stats” are a fair reflection of what’s going on in the country. Save your breath for something that matters.

Or in Cameron’s case, save it for saying something patently ludicrous. According to the Prime Minister, “Labour never stand up for the NHS”. That would be the NHS built by Labour, defended by Labour and funded to record levels by Labour, would it Mr Cameron? Attack Labour how you like Dave, but at least make it credible.

Predictable to-ing and fro-ing ensued. Tories lined up to tee up Cameron on Unite, without the PM landing any fresh blows. Labour MPs stood up to decry Cameron’s approach to working, people, the North East, unemployment – all true, but without any killer blows.

Except there was a question that kept out. Tom Blenkinsop read out a question on why the PM had met and shook hands with a murder suspect at 10 Downing Street. Cameron said he’d be “looking carefully” into this – but looked both shocked and baffled. I suspect that we might be hearing more about this suspect – but in a fairly limp PMQs, this might be the only memorable thing to have happened in this otherwise drab thirty minutes.