The Sketch: Sniping continues in foothills of Westminster enclave

THE WAR is over but skirmishing continues in outlying areas. At the beginning of his statement on the G8 summit, the Prime Minister seemed to suggest that the moment for modesty had passed - either because he can now stand confidently on conquered ground or because things have been getting a little gloomy recently and he thinks it might be timely to bring his light out from under its bushel.

"This is a huge achievement," he said, after announcing that Serb forces had withdrawn from Kosovo. But the Prime Minister knows that the absence of war is never quite the same thing as peace. Pockets of resistance remain in the remote fastnesses of the Labour backbenches and differences of opinion that had been suppressed in the interests of national unity can now make themselves heard again.

When he opened questions to the Defence Secretary earlier, the Liberal Democrat Vincent Cable pointed out that British troops in Kosovo now faced "a more familiar and formidable enemy than the Serb army - the British Treasury". George Robertson insisted that "the battalions at the Treasury are on the side of our troops in Kosovo" but the second half of his sentence disappeared in the wry jeers of Tory members. The Liberal Democrat Menzies Campbell and the Tory Iain Duncan-Smith, freshly liberated from patriotic circumspection, also felt able to ask polite questions about the exact nature of that crushing aerial bombardment, given that the withdrawing Serb army appeared to be in remarkably good shape. Well, it just went to show, Mr Robertson said, how devilishly determined Mr Milosevic had been, since even after all that "degrading" the Serbs had many more weapons in Kosovo than Nato had ever imagined.

Equally, of course, it could mean that original Nato estimates were roughly correct and that most of the bombs had missed, impertinently wandering off to more interesting targets, such as the Chinese Embassy, or the 3.45 stopping train to Prizren.

And if the precise degree of past achievements doesn't provide a position to snipe from, then the uncertain state of the future will do instead. When Tam Dalyell eventually chipped in, it was to ask for an estimate of the British commitment to the region. Would it be "for my lifetime, for his lifetime or for the lifetime of the youngest amongst us?".

He liked this question so much that he asked it again, word for word, after the Prime Minister's statement. He didn't get an answer this time either, the Prime Minister mildly admonishing him to do his bit to bring the Serbs round to the case for democracy.

Mr Blair was in marginally more confident form yesterday - having returned from a summit which combined largesse to the third world with a kind of mini-detente after the chilly stand-off of the last few weeks.

Mr Blair, referred, rather pointedly I thought, to the "warmth" of President Yeltsin's assurances of amity. I can't have been the only one for whom this conjured a picture of the Russian leader shimmering slightly within a halo of vodka fumes, as he clasped the PM to his bosom and slurred: "I really love you Tony. D'ya know that? Do ya?"

Naturally Mr Blair also had to answer a question about his weekend statement on the euro. Had he said joining was daft or not, asked Mr Hague, and were there five conditions for joining or six? Mr Blair insisted that nothing had changed.

Both Mr Hague and Mr Blair like to pretend they are free agents in this matter, steering according to the dictates of conscience alone - in truth their headlong collisions are as inevitable as that between two cyclists with their front wheels jammed in the same tram line.