We have no idea if there will be an election before Christmas but Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson used today’s PMQs as a rehearsal for one just in case.
The two party leaders went round the houses on Brexit, the NHS and the economy adding little illumination on the way though offering glimpses of the attack lines that will shape the contest when the country finally goes to the polls.
Corbyn’s line of questioning lacked a clear narrative which allowed Johnson off the hook on several occasions.
The Labour leader began by asking why measures to protect workers’ rights had been removed from the withdrawal agreement to the political declaration which is not legally binding.
The Prime Minister, who has turned shambolic replies into an art form, waffled on, not entirely coherently, about getting Brexit done.
This did not, as Corbyn noted, answer his question.
When the exchanges moved to the NHS Johnson reeled out his line about the government building 40 new hospitals.
In an answer to a later question this was downgraded to 20 new hospitals by the Prime Minister.
Corbyn tried to pick him up on this but failed to nail the inconsistency.
Instead to skipped back to Brexit by asking about the new trading restrictions between Northern Ireland and Great Britain that would be imposed as a result of the proposed Brexit deal.
This may have been an attempt by Corbyn to punch the bruise between the DUP and the Tories but it was surprising to see this Labour leader take up the cause of the Unionists.
Johnson's reply that there will be no checks on goods between NI and GB was either a blatant falsehood or another example of his refusal to engage with even the slightest detail.
Rather than lose a battle with reality he reached into his locker of election attack lines and rattled off a series of claims about Corbyn’s sympathy for the IRA, his wish for a second Scottish referendum and his risk to the economy.
This was as much about their competing personalities as their competing policies.
At the top of the session you saw the best of Jeremy Corbyn when he spoke with real compassion about the deaths of the 39 people found in a lorry in Essex.
Boris Johnson’s own words were not misjudged but his rhetorical style is such they failed to convey the same humanity shown by the Labour leader.
Come the election, an issue Corbyn studiously avoided along with any questions about when the Withdrawal Agreement Bill may return, this could matter.
