A bit late this week but here none the less. This week's PMQs really needed to be better than recent ones if any of the politicians taking part were to come off looking like mature adults, and thankfully this week saw an upturn in the standard of what was debated. Gone was the issue of Northern Rock (thank god) and the big scandals for both big parties meant that no-one was going to go on the party-political offensive regarding untrustworthy MPs. With this we were left with key subjects, crime, military and housing

What was still disappointing was the lack of imagination by David Cameron in his questioning. Having been on the receiving end of the PM repeatedly asking him the same question and boasting that the Tory leader couldn't answer a simple question, I found it perplexing that when it came to asking Gordon Brown about whether or not he'd scrap the foot-long (A4) report sheets for stop and search he would resort to the same tactics. On one hand it just sounds like he's copying a petulant tactic, while on the other it still sounds like he hasn't prepared for Brown giving a semi-straight answer (for once).

Indeed I don't know what more the Tories wanted to hear from the PM, he stated quite clearly that he would act on the outcome of a report to come, and that he thought the forms were too inefficient, this *is* answering the question just as much as Cameron was weeks ago when he stated "There's no-one in this house that doesn't agree with the proposals". Barking on about an A4 piece of paper as "foot long" only smacks of spin as well, and spin that is hardly too welcome when the alternative is no checks and balances on a police force that traditionally targets black and Asian youths more than whites.

On balance though Brown did put his foot in it by confusing whether or not he'd be expelling or banning Al-Qaradawi. I understand that perhaps he was trying to make a "Britain for the British" statement of kicking those "filthy foreigners" out to try and gain yet more support from the right, but given the subject hadn't approached that level it was just met with confusion and ridicule. But I commend the PM this week, because not once did he repeat the Labour party record on the economy! Finally a week where I don't have to recite along with the man in charge how much better we are supposedly off because of him.

But if both the leaders of the top two had a better week this week, it was overshadowed by Nick Clegg jumping back to previous form, hitting home with an issue that will strike home with a large portion of the public. Clegg talked about military funding, the state of the housing for our armed forces, and military resources. Unfortunately Brown gets off much more lightly when answering the Lib Dem leader's questions and barely manages to answer them each week, certainly not without rolling out the same old line about the Lib Dem's never being able to afford the changes they want.

Other questions in the house seemed much more planted than usual, and I have to just roll my eyes now when a Labour MP stands up, talking about an issue of the week, and asking the PM to say how amazing they are. It doesn't fool anyone in the chamber so why should it fool the public? PMQs should be left for those MPs that actually recognise their duty to hold the PM to account on behalf of the constituency, as it is at least 2/3rds of the time is taken up by party bickering and ego-stroking plants.

The star of the show, however, would be Boris Johnson. Standing up to make a point of order at the end, as Brown was hurriedly leaving, he rectified the PM's statement on the Tory candidate for Mayor of London wishing to cut police numbers as "inadvertently misleading the house", and that he in fact would increase policing. It might not have strictly been in the PMQ session but it probably struck the highest blow against the PM who really should take more care to get his facts straight. Otherwise, of the three leaders it would be hard to pick the stand out winner this week, and I'd have to say it is a three way low tie for them all, and I hope the progress made this week only continues in returning some credibility to the session.