PMQs Verdict: Miliband tries to drive a wedge between Cameron and his party

You can watch Miliband and Cameron’s clash at PMQS here.

PMQs was back today after last week’s parliamentary recess, but to be honest it was like we’d never been away. Floods, dredging and climate change were the phrases de jour, just as they were the last time Miliband and Cameron went toe to toe two weeks ago.

And despite Miliband recently stating his preference for a different kind of PMQs, it wasn’t long before Punch and Judy were back in their usual place at the dispatch box.

I doubt we’ll ever have an opposition leader who doesn’t say they want to change the tone of PMQs or who will say that it’s not really important. By the same token, I don’t expect we’ll ever have an opposition leader – or Prime Minister – who’s really willing to do anything about it.

And so onto the central scrap – if that’s the right word for it – because Miliband and Cameron actually spent most of PMQs today aggressively agreeing with each other. Both agreed that man made climate change is a real problem for Britain, that investment in cutting carbon is necessary and that more must be done.

But that’s because Ed Miliband wasn’t trying to trip the Prime Minister up today. He knows that Cameron believes in climate change – but he wanted to drive a wedge between the PM and those sat behind him in the green benches. Climate change denialism is rife on the Tory benches and on the fringes of right-wing politics. Miliband was seeking to separate Cameron from the science deniers sitting behind him and in some cases alongside him on the front bench. He wanted to hear Cameron say he believed in climate change and he wanted the Tory benches to hear it too.

The success or otherwise of that tactic is unlikely to be seen immediately, but it’ll be interesting to see how the Tory right responds to spots of green appearing in Cameron’s true blue once again…