Do real men buy coffee, David Cameron appeared to ask yesterday.

The question, admittedly, was an unusual one. But then it was that kind of Prime Minister's Questions.

MPs had just returned for their first kerfuffle after the reshuffle, flush – like everyone else back for their new term – with new shoes and old tans.

Eagle-eyed observers even spotted a member of the Tory front bench whose bald patch had clearly expanded over the summer recess.

But the holiday spirit lingered on, causing both sides to struggle to land a knockout blow.

The PM's strategy was to focus attention on Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, who he believes many in the country still blame for the economic problems. But the message appeared diluted the more he brought every question back to the 'other Ed',

Labour wanted to tell the Tories they had now been in power for so long – two and a half years – that they could not blame Labour for everything. Don't expect the Conservatives to agree with that train of thought any time soon.

But the strangest moment was when the PM appeared to try to win a hitherto unrecognised strong man competition with Ed Miliband.

Even if you believe that there was a golden era when real men did not eat quiche, the House of Commons would not immediately spring to mind as the epicentre of "tough guy" attitude. So the PM raised eyebrows when he teased Mr Miliband over reports he fetched the coffee every morning for his shadow chancellor.

"That's how assertive and butch the leader of the opposition is," he said.

Butch? The mind raced. Had we all missed something?

Labour accused Mr Cameron of being unreconstructed.

"It sounds like a man who is stuck in the 1980s," a Labour source said. Or the 1940s.

Elsewhere, the speaker was clearly having fun on the first day back at school.

The first two people he called were Labour veteran Dennis Skinner, who memorably got under the skin of the Prime Minister so much he was urged to retire. Second up was Nadine Dorries, another of David Cameron's firm favourites after she denounced him and his Chancellor as "posh boys".

This week's reshuffle attracted the most attention, although Miliband claimed this week's biggest political event had been when George Osborne was booed at the Paralympic Games. But Mr Cameron himself appeared to tease us with the hint of news to come towards the end of the session.

And at one point he uttered the phrase that apparently refuses to die: "big society".

After the reshuffle will there be a relaunch? The mind boggles.