There was much surprise that Harman came out of the blocks quick, littering her first despatch box attack on the coalition with jokes that Gordon could only dream of delivering. Particularly good was her quip about the Lib Dems wanting to cling on to the trappings of opposition. It bodes well for some entertaining PMQs.

Before conclusions are jumped to that she is a natural, could Harman’s new-found sense of humour have something to do with the promotion of Ayesha Hazarika, a stand up comedian, to Director of Communications of the Labour Party and Deputy Chief of Staff to the Leader of the Opposition? For all the jokes, Labour are still not finding the need to mention that deficit.