Who won?

Ed Miliband had a good day today, but then he appeared to be pushing at an open door with the NHS. Ed hit hard. Though Cameron fought hard to press back, Ed pressed harder and grew in confidence as the session went on.

Ed did, however, slow towards the end; I waited with anticipation for a last bit of sparkle which never came. I don’t know if the heckling and the constant interruptions from the speaker made Ed lose momentum or whether he had overreached with all questions on one topic. I, however, actually think he got too confident and caught up in the jokes and witty comments that went down so well that he lost flow.

Ed’s slowdown let Cameron recover some ground, pulling out Labour’s briefing paper, but the day was already Ed’s. Only time will tell if Ed’s NHS will be ‘Cameron’s Poll Tax’ line will stick, early coverage looks good.

Best question, answer or joke?

In a PMQs dominated by the two leaders, with not much from the backbenches and little sparkle from the prime minister, the best comments all came from Labour’s leader.

Ed showed some nimble footwork with his jokes today. First aimed at Andrew Lansley’s attempts to provide advice to Cameron and quickly followed by a cutting line at Cameron on avoiding his questions about NHS fragmentation. Leaders often exchange accusations about question avoidance but this one was good, and stung.

However, Ed’s best line was hitting right back at Cameron’s previous claim on the need for NHS staff to support the changes, yet Cameron now can’t be in the room with our doctors and nurses.

Best backbencher?

The best question from the backbenches came from Mary Glindon on an issue closest to Labour members’ hearts – the national minimum wage. Would the prime minister confirm he’s defiantly not going to freeze the national minimum wage this year, as has been reported? Seems reasonable, especially with inflation running high. However, in terms of question dodging Cameron didn’t even try. He got up, answered as quickly as possible, saying as little as possible, certainly refusing to make a commitment, and sat down.

Good question and an important issue to people.