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PMQs - The verdict
After the early shots of the election campaign over tax and immigration in recent weeks, the latest bout of prime minister's questions was a tamer affair.
The clash resembled the first leg of tricky European football tie, with both sides playing safe for a 0-0 draw, neither wanting to risk defeat and both holding back their strongest weapons for the crucial stages of the contest.
In part the subdued atmosphere was set by Sunday's death of 10 British troops in Iraq, the day of elections in the country, both of which Tony Blair began by paying tribute to.
Michael Howard and Charles Kennedy of course did likewise and the curious cross-party consensus continued with the leader of the Opposition's first round of questions on his party's plan for dealing with terror suspects when evidence is not permissible in court.
The Tory chief invited Blair to consider his ideas as an alternative to the government's own plans for house arrest and electronic tagging, which the prime minister said he would.
Howard then pushed his luck a bit further. Would Blair meet with him personally to discuss the proposals?
In the spirit of this civilised exchange the prime minister replied that "of course" he would.
At this point Kennedy injected a little partisan politics into the occasion by claiming that his party's criticisms carried more weight than the Conservatives'. The Lib Dems - unlike the Tories - had opposed the government's original law of detention without trial, he said.
Sensing the Liberals' law and order weak spot, Blair saw his own chance for a little point scoring.
"The one thing I will not do is put the security of the country at risk," he proclaimed.
Temperature
But it took Labour's Clive Efford to really raise the temperature, with a prolonged stream of Tory-bashing about councillors in his own Eltham constituency.
Howard then came back on his theme of the week, the need for a new law protecting householders from prosecution when assaulting intruders.
If he is uncomfortably to the left on Blair on terror suspects, he balanced this by pitching his party firmly to the right of Labour on beating up burglars.
He won a laugh from his backbenchers by getting the prime minister to say the law is already "crystal clear".
But the Tory attack fell flat when Blair produced a quote of Howard's from late last year in which he said there was no need for new legislation.
He signed off by slamming Howard's "usual petty opportunism" and appeared to have secured another clean sheet, although not before he had again been ticked off by the speaker for asking and not answering questions.
However the dying seconds of the game saw Labour's Ian Davidson almost knock in a late own goal.
The arch-eurosceptic appeared to be reading a Tory script and did more to embarrass Blair than most Conservative MPs have managed.
"Is the prime minister aware that we may be coming up to a general election?" he strangely asked the man who has the power to call the poll.
"And that many voters may be wondering whether to vote Labour?" he added.
Scrambling to divert the ball wide, he then called on the electorate to back Blair in the Westminster ballot but "punish" the government by voting "no" in the European constitution referendum.
If it was not meant to be a helpful intervention it certainly succeeded.
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