Eagle-eyed Joey Jones clocked the friendly pats on Andrew Mitchell’s back as he loitered with intent at PMQs. Guido was particularly surprised to see such a warm response from LibDem Deputy Leader Simon Hughes, especially given that just a matter of weeks ago Hughes was putting the boot in, briefing the papers:

“Clearly it is never good if any person in public office is shown to be disrespectful of the police. The police aren’t always perfect, they don’t always get everything right but there’s a basic principle we should follow which is that the police are there to be respected because of the amazingly important work they do for us. At this time, of all times, still in the seven days following the death of two police constables on duty, I think the message has to be that we respect the police and we don’t lose our tempers with them.”

Typical LibDem flip flopping…