Out of the frying pan into the bear pit

BRIAN COWEN just didn’t have a prayer in the chamber yesterday.

He was on the back foot from the word go as it became clear he was just not up to the brief.

Now, Leader’s Questions is not the easiest of parliamentary gigs. Tony Blair always said the few minutes before he went into the Commons bear pit for Prime Minister’s Questions were always the most stomach churning of his premiership as he never knew what the opposition were going to throw at him – which is why he spent so long rehearsing every possible eventuality with his aides in the days leading up to the event.