Nick Clegg, the new Liberal Democrat leader, today made his first appearance in the cauldron of Prime Minister’s Questions - to tongue-in-cheek shouts of "bring back Vince" from some Conservative and Labour MPs.

Commentators later described his manner as brisk and businesslike, as he made his mark at the weekly ritual where the party's last leader, Sir Menzies Campbell, suffered humiliation.

There were double-edged welcomes from the other party leaders. Gordon Brown said he looked forward to working with Mr Clegg, who was flanked on the Lib Dem benches by Vincent Cable, the party’s former acting leader, and his leadership rival Chris Huhne.

Welcoming him to his post, the Prime Minister said that he had told him during private meetings that there was "always an open door" to discuss issues - although not a door that Mr Clegg is likely to use often, after Sir Menzies was wrong-footed over contacts with Mr Brown.

David Cameron, the Tory leader, noted cuttingly that he was the fourth Lib Dem leader he had faced, adding: "I wish you well - although not that well. I am simply relieved it is not my party that has got this habit of replacing its leader on quite such a regular basis."

Mr Cameron is the fifth Tory leader in the last 10 years. Mr Clegg is the fourth Lib Dem leader in the same period.

In what will be seen as a signal of his future priorities as leader, Mr Clegg used his allotted two questions during the half-hour session to urge the Prime Minister to press gas and electricity companies to put an end to "the scandal of the poorest families paying the most for their energy needs".

He warned that an estimated 25,000 people were predicted to die from the cold this winter because of the winter fuel crisis. "Countless British families face fuel bills of £1,000 or more for the first time," Mr Clegg said.

Mr Brown replied: "We will do everything in our power to avoid fuel poverty in this country."

Before making his appearance, Mr Clegg had said in a radio interview that Prime Minister's Questions was only a "small sort of stitch" in his overall job of improving the Liberal Democrats' prospects.

"I think it's important in Westminster terms. I'm not sure if that many members of the public really pay that much attention to it, but it's certainly important in terms of our parliamentary ritual and procedure," he told the BBC.

During this week's session, the first since the Christmas recess, Mr Brown and Mr Cameron crossed swords over the future of the Government's troubled ID cards scheme.

The Conservative leader claimed that it was now "completely unsafe" to trust the Government with more personal information after the recent loss of data discs. He added that the Government was in "full retreat" on its policy of making ID cards compulsory for everyone, and claimed they should remain voluntary.

"A few months ago a Home Office minister said: ’It is the Government’s policy that ID cards should eventually be compulsory for every resident in the UK’. Is that still the Government’s policy?" Mr Cameron asked.

Mr Brown replied: "That is the policy, but it’s a matter for Parliament to decide after we’ve looked at the voluntary system in place."

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