But for the Tory Right, cringing as “Dave” declares his love of Shameless, a Channel 4 drama about an alcoholic father who abandons six children to live with another woman, there was one crumb of comfort. Asked which living politician he most admires, the Tory leader replied: “It’s got to be Margaret Thatcher.”

Dipping into a Thatcher impersonation, he said: “She was very clear, saying ‘All you’ve got to remember as a Conservative is liberty under law’. She said: ‘Make that the heart of everything you do.’ ”

The right wing pacified, it was back to naming the Conservative leader’s favourite Smiths album (The Queen is Dead, despite the title track) and his favourite karaoke song (Babies by Pulp).

Last week, for the first time, Mr Cameron scored more points for substance than style. He hammered Tony Blair at the dispatch box, extracting a confession that when the Prime Minister turned down Charles Clarke’s offer of resignation he was unaware that a further 288 foreign prisoners had been freed since the Home Secretary discovered the problem.

But his green credentials took a battering yesterday when it emerged that he sends his chauffeur-driven Lexus to pick up his shoes, shirt and briefcase when he cycles to work. “David Cameron has always enjoyed cycling and if he could carry all of his documents for work he would,” stuttered a Tory spokesman. “But he has changed his car for one that has lower carbon emission and he has made other personal changes to help the environment.”

Chris Huhne, the Lib Dem environment spokesman, said yesterday that he would ensure that Mr Cameron dispensed with the driver. “I will personally buy and deliver to Mr Cameron a panier for him to put over his back wheels so that he can cycle to work while leaving his shoe chauffeur at home,” he said.

Mr Cameron also raised the ire of road-safety groups by endorsing the idea of drunken cycling. Responding to a question from Michael Winner, who asked him to change the sequencing on the traffic lights at the eastern end of the Mall, which “delay my trip to the Ivy”, Mr Cameron told him to get on his bike. “Then you can have as much to drink at the Ivy as you like,” he said.

He appeared keen to impress with a range of cultural references, including his wife’s relationship with Tricky of Massive Attack and his chats with Bob Geldof. He was less keen to engage with substantive questions on the decriminalising of drug taking, giving secular schools the same advantages as faith schools and pulling troops out of Iraq.

Times Recommends

• Over and out: former para on why he quit
• What links a cheesy musical and a pickled cow?
• EU rediscovers taste for bendy cucumbers