Did you see it? No, of course you didn’t, because you’re not a geek like me, but David Laws’ defence yesterday of the £6bn cuts this year was masterful.

One Conservative MP was relieved to see the return of Gladstonian liberalism to the treasury. Laws accepted the compliment and then added that he hoped to bring social liberalism to the job as well. Conservatives and LibDems all seemed to murmur in contentment.

With his blonde LibDem hair, his dark blue Conservative shirt and his Coalition green tie, Laws epitomised the spirit of the coalition, giving an assured and confident delivery. He batted away Labour objections, channelled comments from his own side against the opposition, and dealt calmly and confidently with an absolutely fuming Dennis Skinner. At one point he even managed to defend localism and attack Big Government.

Labour was clearly in disarray, although without the need for patronage and no clear leadership, their MPs should have been on top form at holding the government to account. As individuals they were, but they could not land a single blow on Laws. Poor Darling was reduced to making his main criticism (rather hypocritically) the fact that the announcements had not first been made in the Commons.

Laws is one to watch. I wonder if next time he’ll wear a blue tie with a green shirt… or maybe dye his hair?