PMQ - end-of-term panto

All three party leaders paid fulsome tribute to former MP Kevin Hughes at PMQ today. The 53-year-old former MP for Doncaster North stood down at the last election because of ill-health, and died of motor neurone disease over the weekend.
MPs were in a good mood, and Tony Blair in particular was on top form, at one point teasing the Speaker after being told off for talking too much about Tory policies. Or rather, the lack of any.
Some commentators were suprised that David Cameron did not return to bashing the Home Office, given this week's admission that there are hundreds of thousands more illegal immigrants as was first thought.
Instead the Leader of the Opposition chose to stick with a series of good one-liners. He started by asking for confirmation that the government's home infomation pack scheme was to be abandoned.
Blair replied that as a result of representations from the mortgage industry, the packs would not now be compulsory. Cameron commented that as the PM would be moving house soon, he should pay more attention.
There was then the usual exchange about Labour incomptence and "under the Tories" responses about high interest rates.
Cameron was trying to paint a picture of a goverment in decline, unable to enact its own legislation. As he listed these policies, there was a touch of end-of-term panto as his colleagues bellowed 'dropped!' after each one.
This gave the PM the opportunity to point out that Cameron only has four policies - a bill of rights, hug-a-hoodie, English votes on English affairs and withdrawl from the EPP - all of which have been trashed by his own MPs.
Blair was relishing the exchange, no doubt relieved that this is the last time he will face his opponent until October. Cameron did not mention the summer of Prescott, but instead hit the PM with a truly amusing riposte:
"I know the prime minister doesn't like being interrogated, but given how things are going with Scotland Yard he could do with the practice."
Mr Blair tried to respond with another list of Tory non-policies, but the Speaker wasn't having any of it. He told the PM he had been generous with him before with the lists, and suggested he be brief.
The session moved on, with a question from Dawn Butler about safer stations. Mr Blair amused his colleagues by starting to list Tory policy again - just a bit of fun.
Ming Campbell asked another set of excellent questions, this time he wanted to know why the PM will not criticise Israel's response to Hizbollah's rocket attacks.
Mr Blair called the events in the Middle East "tragic and terrible" but maintained his strongly pro-Israel stance, placing the blame for the situation squarely at the feet of Lebanon and Hizbollah.
Veteran Labour MP and former minister Michael Meacher also urged the PM to confront the US about its stance on the situation, and advocated negotiation
Mr Blair replied that without the pre-condition of security there can be no negotiation.
He also faced criticism from Evan Harris and Denis MacShane for not signing the international treaty on human trafficking. The PM said he was unhappy that under the treaty traficked people would remain in the UK after they had been discovered, but promised to reconsider.
Finally, the PM's holiday arrangements were the subject of two Tory questions. John Maples suggested that the Blairs eschew their usual Italian palazzo for a destination in the UK - therefore removing the need for John Prescott to stand in over the summer.
Robert Goodwill went one better, inviting Mr Blair to bring his bucket and spade to Scarborough in his constituency. He told the House that many people who holiday in the seaside resort end up retiring there.
Mr Blair mused on the dubious pleasures of bumping into Mr Goodwill on his promenades along the seafront, and wished all members a good holiday.