“I was the future once”: David Cameron wraps up his final session of PMQs
Prime Minister David Cameron has finished his final questions in the House of Commons, earning a standing ovation from his own party, and making an emotional appeal to MPs to interrogate their leaders.
Responding to a final question from Tory backbencher Ken Clarke, Cameron pledged to be an active backbencher and said he would be “willing on” both the new Prime Minister, Theresa May, and Westminster as a whole.
"I will watch these exchanges from the backbenches. I will miss the roar of the crowd. I will miss the barbs from the opposition. But I wll be willing you on," Cameron said.
"I don't just mean willing on the new Prime Minister at this despatch box, or indeed willing on the frontbench as they defend the manifesto that I helped to put together.
"I mean willing all of you on. People come here with huge passion for the issues that they care about. They come here with great love for the constituencies that they represent," he said.
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“We can be pretty tough and test and challenge our leader, and perhaps more than some other countries, but that is something we should be proud of and we should keep at it.” Cameron said.
“You can achieve a lot of things in politics and get a lot of things done. That in the end – the public service – is what its all about. Nothing is really impossible if you put your mind to it," Cameron said, before closing with a remark which reflected his first ever PMQs session, when he sought to interrogate Tony Blair.
"After all, as I once said, I was the future once," Cameron said.
It came after a raucous session in which the Prime Minister repeatedly poked fun at Labour's Jeremy Corbyn, at one point comparing him to The Black Knight character from Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail.
"He's been kicked so many times but he keeps going, saying it's only flesh wound," Cameron said.
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And Cameron also reflected on an email he had received from a member of the public on Corbyn's selection as leader, which advised him against attacking his opposite number, and telling Cameron instead "let Cameron create his own disunity".
"I need to meet [her] to find out what happens next," he joked.
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