Bumptious is the sort of word you carry in your back pocket hoping to find a sentence to stick it in.
Just when you think you never will, up steps David Cameron, Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
And up he stepped today as he brought his own brand of bumptiousness to Prime Ministers Questions.
Traditionally this is the time of the week when the incumbent is held to account by the opposition.
But the opposition is so busy opposing itself it hasn’t got time to oppose him.
Not that the Tories were dodging trouble.
With the junior hospital doctors strike into day two, Jeremy Hunt had been tethered within eating distance of the Labour front bench.
Too far from the exit to to make a run for it, he sat, eyes-a-popping, opposite Diane Abbott.
She, somberly dressed for the occasion, looked more than happy to munch on the hapless Health Secretary.
Jeremy H quivered, Jeremy C stood up.
It is at this stage that regular readers need to remember the reign of Miliband the Younger.
This was the time when the leader of the Labour Party developed a new strategy for PMQs.
Based on a medieval folk dance it involved taking two steps back every time one step forward was taken.
Indeed often it only involved the two steps back part.
So it was not a total surprise today when the new leader decided to follow suit.
Last week he scored a rare success over Dave with an attack on academisation of schools.
This week he decided to put the PM on the spot – over the academisation of schools.
Last week Dave floundered as he tried to duck and dodge his way out of trouble.
But with a week to work out what he should have said, no trouble today.
He rattled of his answers with all the sincerity which has come to mark his premiership.
Jeremy C’s contribution was perhaps best summed up by the look of total confusion on the face of Dennis Skinner.
Dave was by now demonstrating those synonyms – pompous, conceited, cocky etc – that make bumptious such a suitable adjective.
Down the Government front bench Chancellor George relaxed his grip on Jeremy H.
The Health Secretary began to breathe again.
“Ed Miliband and Brazil Environment Minister Carlos Minc” flickr photo by ARCHIVED Department of Energy and Climate Change https://flickr.com/photos/energyclimatechange/3788976063 shared under a Creative
