I have said here before that PMQs owes more to show business than it does to politics - but in an era of 24 hour news it is still important. OK not many people will watch the whole half an hour, but through news coverage the media will be the message and the snappy soundbite or calculated put down can have a big impact on public opinion.

The fact is, over the last year, Cameron has had by far the better of the exchanges with Gordon Brown. And that reflects particularly badly on Brown. The structure of PMQs, with an inbuilt advantage of the last word to the PM, makes it doubly difficult for the Leader of the Opposition to land a killer punch. Many people will not realise it, but Jim Callaghan regularly wiped the floor with Thatcher, and even John Major would routinely slap down the more eloquent Kinnock.

Tomorrow's exchanges could be particularly interesting. Cameron has got to avoid his natural inclination to come across as slick and smug.
As we saw during the Conservative Party conference his advisers have counselled against the stand up comic routine. Serious times call for serious leaders, not a cross between Jim Davidson and Michael Heseltine.

For Brown the seriousness comes naturally, and his new found government of national unity could restore his shattered confidence at the despatch box. But at a time of crisis people also want to see decisive leadership, and that has certainly been lacking in the 12 months since 'the election that never was'.

So switch on tomorrow - it should be interesting, but don't expect fireworks as Cameron tries to avoid the punch and judy show and Brown tries to hold back with the clunking fist.

Second's out...

Update: Apparently from tomorrow, Adam Boulton will be presenting a new PMQs programme on Sky News from 1145 til 1300.

Part of the show will be a look at what bloggers are saying about that week's session. So if you want to swap the trivia of The Daily Politics for the trivia of your favourite bloggers, you might want to give it a try.