Opposition MPs sat silently at Prime Minister’s Questions as he shrugged off Mr Miliband’s attempts to make capital over Britain’s economic prospects.
The Opposition leader’s line of questioning enabled Mr Cameron to highlight positive predictions for recovery contained in this week’s Office for Budget Responsibility report – and came hours after it was announced manufacturing has grown at its fastest rate in 16 years.
Mr Miliband ignored potentially wounding issues such as Lib Dem discomfort over raising tuition fees and leaked US cables claiming Bank of England Governor Mervyn King had voiced pre-election concern about the Tory leadership’s inexperience.
Instead, he quoted the WikiLeaks claim that Foreign Secretary William Hague had described himself, Mr Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne as “the children of Thatcher’’.
I would rather be a child of Thatcher than a son of Brown!
Mr Cameron prompted massive cheers from Tory ranks by blasting back: “I would rather be a child of Thatcher than a son of Brown!’’
Earlier, in a dig at Labour complaints about lack of leadership, the PM taunted his opponent: “You’ve been doing the job for the last three months. People are beginning to ask ‘when’s he going to start’.’’