No, no, no Liam...

I could suddenly imagine Lord Mandelson standing over Liam Byrne with a cane, screwing up his face and spitting: “No, no, no Liam. Stop being such an imbecile. Now say it after me…”

It was a vision prompted by a moment in the Clarke Vs Mandy debate yesterday that was mentioned in passing in today’s papers, but without any humour.

The two big hitters were speaking about how they’d cut the deficit and Jon Sopel, chairing the debate, brought up the comments of Chief Treasury Secretary Liam Byrne.

Sopel: I thought the Chief Secretary Liam Byrne said there was absolutely no need to raise taxation.

Mandy: What he said was – and you misrepresented him I noticed in your interview with the Prime Minister on Sunday – what he said…

Sopel: I quoted him exactly

Mandy: No you didn’t…because I listened very carefully to what you said. What Liam Byrne the Chief Secretary said [reading from paper] is that ‘we do not plan or propose further tax increases other than those that have already been announced in the pre-budget report’ and that is the Government’s position.

Sopel: Ken Clarke?

Clarke: I hope Liam knows he said that.

Mandy: He does.

Poor liam.