May and Corbyn call a truce in the Commons as all the parties are hit by Westminster sex scandal
Jeremy Corbyn could have captured the moment, but his obscure questions barely caught a headline
AS PANIC grips Westminster there was a solemn air for the usual boisterous weekly PMQs duel.
There was a sense that all the parties are in the soup on sex and sleaze allegations, as the opening exchanges were heard in a weary silence.
You know things are bad when the party leaders agree to meet for urgent cross-party meetings rather than simply tear strips off each other.
Though these truces should come with massive warning bells – last time a crisis was so dire that meetings were called, it lead to the disastrous stitch-up that nearly ended 300 years of press freedom.
Mrs May was nervous, a slight shake of the hand as she sifted through her notes.
A slight waver to the voice as she called for consensus, insisting something must be done!
Perhaps it was the fact the so called Beast of Bolsover – Dennis Skinner – had the first question.
Famous for his searing gags that enrage and skewer Tories, the Labour veteran had the room as he limbered up.
The House fell quiet, as the elderly backbencher let everyone down by asking about trains.
And he was a mere warm up for the perpetually disappointing Jeremy Corbyn.
In 2009 David Cameron used the opposition despatch box to cast himself as the PM in waiting as he put Gordon Brown on the rack over the expenses scandal.
Today Mr Corbyn stepped up to the plate to ask a series of obscure questions about EU regulations relating to the import of private jets to the Isle of Man.
Mr Corbyn could have captured the moment, but in fact he barely caught a headline with his obscure and badly structured attempt at a cross examination of the Government’s record on closing tax loopholes.
As ever it took Mr Corbyn’s moderate MPs – consigned to the backbenches to actually cause Mrs May any grief but Lisa Nandy electrified the Commos.
The PM is far from out of the woods yet as the Westminster sleaze scandal reaches the doors of No10, but it won’t be the Leader of the Opposition who lands the blows.
SCORE: Theresa May 4 – 2 Jeremy Corbyn