The details of the Northern Rock are perhaps not of great interest to the wider public; however I would hope that people recognise that the government is trying to do something to safeguard the future of the bank. Gordon Brown was quite right to point out the lack of any alternative plan from the Tories.

David Cameron’s jokes were rather lame. The fact that he persisted in trotting them out rather than suggest any alternative for the bank only underlines his reputation for vacuousness. Jolly japes are fine from the stand-in leader of a minor party; one expects a bit more substance from someone who aspires to lead our country. The more personal and spiteful Cameron becomes, the more he resembles a public schoolboy bully. Hardly a vote winner in the long term.

Less impressive was his parting shot at Cameron, “As for competence I remind him, I remind him, that in 1992 he sat there when interest rates went to 15%…….”

What was David Cameron, who at the time was not even an MP, doing sat on what were then, the Labour benches?

On the first and 3 subsequent hearings of Vince Cables “Stalin to Mr Bean” joke, I am convinced that he got the gag wrong and actually said Mr Beam. Not to worry, he won’t have been the first Lib Dem leader to appear at PMQs with lunch on his mind.