Michael Howard certainly scored a direct hit on Tony Blair during Prime Minister's Questions on Hutton, but he has so far completely missed the target over tuition fees. The real opposition to Blair's determination to break his election promise has come from Labour's Nick Brown.
The reason for this is simple. Charles Clarke's plans for higher education are Tory policies, so the Tories find it difficult to oppose them. This was highlighted when the Today programme invited on Chris Patten, and had Howard squirming as he tried to answer the former Tory chairman, who supports top-up fees.
When I interviewed the Tory education supremo, Tim Yeo, for Radio 5, his opposition was centred on the so-called "access regulator". This is sweet news for Blair, who will be happy that the Tories are seeming to defend public-school-educated kids - who still have the advantage when applying for university.
The Tory leader's latest attack doesn't involve education at all; it's about why Scottish Labour MPs should be allowed to
vote although the bill affects only England.
The idea that this will "put pressure" on the MPs not to vote is laughable. They got Blair off the hook on foundation hospitals and could do the same over tuition fees.
Labour whips have used any argument to win the vote. With the predominantly working-class Scottish MPs, this has been something like: "Why should working-class families subsidise all those f***ing middle-class kids to go to university?"
Despite the Tories' desperate measures, my money is now on Nick Brown winning the day.
