Obamania came to the Commons yesterday as party leaders fell over themselves to praise the US President-Elect, telling everyone he was one helluva guy and their bestest American buddy.

Obamania came to the Commons yesterday as party leaders fell over themselves to praise the US President-Elect, telling everyone he was one helluva guy and their bestest American buddy.

Bleary eyes gazed down from the backbenchers as MPs had stayed up to the wee small hours to watch the momentous events across the pond, some (Labour/Lib Dems) cheering more heartily than others (Conservatives) for the 47-year-old victor from Illinois.

Gordy sent Westminster's "sincere congratulations" to the big O for writing a new chapter in American history. Talking up the special bonds that united the US and the UK, the PM insisted Mr Obama would be "a true friend to Britain".

At one point, he told MPs: "I know Barack Obama and we share many values." Political lingo for: he's my best mate.

Not wanting to be outdone in the adoration stakes, the Cameroon jumped up and hailed Obama's "stunning victory".

Given that he had appeared rather chummy with his fellow Conservative, the defeated Republican candidate John McCain, when the Tory chief declared how the Democrats' triumph had shown that America remained a "beacon of hope, opportunity and change", his assertion drew Labour cackles of disbelief.

However, his killer line was about to be made when he told His Britannic Majesty: "I read this morning that the Prime Minister has sent a message to the President-Elect. Presumably it wasn't: this is no time for a novice'."

Tory eyes opened wide with glee at the well-aimed taunt.

GB puffed out his chest and blasted back: "What I said was: serious times needed serious people." Labour MPs loved that and thought the clunking fist had landed itself squarely on the Tory toff's jaw.

Picking himself up off the deck, DC quickly raised Conservative spirits when he declared: "The Labour Party made your strategic choice. It's called more of the same and it's sitting in front of you. You killed change when you bottled that election and you buried change when you appointed Peter Mandelson."

As volume levels rose, Dave sought to up-end the PM by quoting the European Commission, saying the UK Government was wrong in its assertion that Britain was best-placed to recover from the recession, insisting the Brussels bureaucracy had said it was, in fact, the worst. So there.

Gordy, who of late seems to have found his feet at PMQs, replied by saying this was the only time DC had quoted the European Commission.

Harriet Harman giggled away at that as the PM repeated his usual line about how UK plc had lower unemployment, inflation, and interest rates than our European chums.

But the Tory chief was not letting go, telling Gordy: "There are just two countries that we are going to do better than: Estonia and Latvia. They escaped the grip of Stalin. We're still in it!"

The PM used his usual weapon of final choice by patronising the Cameroon, insisting the poor wee fellow simply didn't understand the financial world, and again noted how he had been Norman Lamont's economic adviser when unemployment was at three million and interest rates topped 18%.

DC hit back, suggesting his party was the closest to Obama. "On the day the American people voted for change, aren't people in this country entitled to ask - how much longer have we got to put up with a government that has failed?"

But Gordy argued how the big O's victory had been based on "progressive policies" like Labour's on tackling the banking crisis, introducing the minimum wage, and backing a "fiscal stimulus" - all policies which the Tories had opposed.

"The truth is," he barked, "the Conservative Party policies are rejected in America and in Britain", adding, in a paean of praise, that the US's "progressive policies were similar to ours". In other words, the PM told his opposite number - hands off, Barack's one of us.