This evening’s Question Time was revealing, I thought. Tory leadership contender David Cameron was one of the panelists, and he came over very well indeed. At one point he said that he doesn’t believe people should compromise their values, and that if he agreed with a Labour policy he’d say so. I don’t know whether this is a standard line from leadership contenders, but it didn’t get a great reaction from the crowd or the other (non-MP) panellists, so I’d guess not. Throughout the show I thought he spoke clearly and put his arguments very well. That I happen to think his values are deeply flawed is irrelevant - I entirely agree that MPs should stand up for what they believe in, regardless of partisan point-scoring opportunities. I’m aware that everybody does, but for a leadership hopeful to actually state his agreement with some Labour policies during his campaign takes some guts.

Indeed, tonight’s discussions between David Cameron, Labour environment minister Ben Bradshaw, and Lib Dem Mark Oaten were civilised and full of information and honest debate. It was great! There were no arguments from hypocrisy, name-calling or general obfuscation. Although I support Labour principles, I’m not na