Leadership ping pong

And lo, Chris Huhne plays Nick Clegg's "probably" with a very straight bat.

In a press briefing, he said: "There is no vacancy and this is premature to even talk about the possibility of there being a vacancy."I am not a sort of Michael Heseltine figure who plans the road map to Downing Street from the day they come out of nappies. I wait for opportunities and then decide at the time. I am very happy with what I am doing. I am very pleased Ming asked me to do the environment brief which I think is the key challenge facing the country."

A slap-down to his putative leadership rival? You decide.

It must be said that Mr Clegg's colleagues have not been terribly sympathetic. One suggested that the remark showed he hadn't spent very long in Parliament where you have to watch careless remarks. Another was obviously unimpressed, said he should have used a different formula of words to respond. Ed Davey, the party chair, said that there was no vacancy "and if you look at the exact quote you will see he is saying exactly what I have just said."