Question Time in the Commons this afternoon resembled a Cliff Richard fan club get-together with “Congratulations” ringing around the chamber, writes John Hipwood.

First Gordon Brown, then David Cameron and Nick Clegg, followed by backbenchers were desperate to say “well done” to Barack Obama for his crushing victory in the American elections. But then the arguments began as to what the result means and what the “change” promised by the president elect actually represents.

The Prime Minister said Mr Obama had written “a new chapter in history” and stressed the importance of the bonds between the UK and the US. It’s not clear how many times Brown and Obama have actually exchanged views, but the PM insisted: “I know from talking to him that he will be a true friend of Britain.”

Mr Cameron, a friend of John McCain but hardly a bosom pal of Obama, nevertheless took comfort from the result, saying it was an “incredible transformation” for America to have gone from segregation to electing a black president in just four decades.

He hoped  Brown’s message to Obama was not that this was no time for a novice – a reference to the PM’s recent jibe about the Tory leader. “What I said was that these are serious times for serious people,” the Prime Minister shot back to cheers of “more” from the Labour benches.

It was OK for Labour MPs to call for more, it was called “more of the same and it’s sitting in front of you”, said Mr Cameron. “You killed change when you bottled that election, and you buried change when you appointed Peter Mandelson.”

There then followed the weekly swop of remarks between the party leaders.

Brown opened with: “The only change that they (the Tories) represent is that they change their minds every week.”

Cameron replied: “On the day that the American people voted for change, how much longer have we got to put up with a Government that’s failed?”

The PM hit back saying Americans had voted for change because they wanted all the things he was in favour of – from progressive policies to stimulating the economy. But he ended by emphasising his original point that the Obama victory was of “truly historic significance for the American people”. No one was arguing with that.