"Mr Cameron said he agreed that Manchester benefited from 'a strong' London but said London benefited from a 'strong' Manchester, too." .......

This certainly smacks of a "damage limitation exercise" does it not ???

Now this line is a corker !!! ...."He also rejected claims that his shadow cabinet was too rich and too southern to represent voters in the north" ..... He took the words right out of my mouth ..... his shadow cabinet is indeed too rich and too southern to represent anyone North of the Guilford gap !!!!