How will it be different next Wednesday?

Blair’s final PMQs, as some have observed, was very strange and you almost thought that the occasion would bring tears to his eyes. Yet what a star he has been and how formidable an opponent he has been for the five Tory leaders and three Lib Dems one who have faced him each week. None of them, even Hague at his best, has every really been his match.

It’s Tony huge emotional intelligence and the ability to think on his feet that mark him out as a master of the art of this weekly parliamentary occasion.

One things for certain – it’s all going to be different next week and that first clash between Brown and Cameron is something I’ve been looking forward to for a year and a half.

Next Wednesday will get massive coverage and my guess is that Cameron, who also has a high emotional intelligence, will follow the strategy he followed today, recognise the occasion it is and not let PM Brown get into attack him. That will come later.

What a great time to be observing politics?

Mike Smithson