Guardian

Simon Hoggart: "The chancellor has come to resemble a high-wire artiste, crossing over the ring on a unicycle while juggling. He has to be stable, yet he also needs to be flexible, twisting and turning, ducking and weaving, trying to keep all those spheres up in the air. Because the last thing he wants is to slip, and cover his colleagues with a load of balls."

Independent

Simon Carr: "Mr Brown was received in a way we haven't seen before. Alex Salmond said that over the years he had heard the chancellor cheered and booed but never laughed at like that...The revelation that some of the data had been collected from Angola, Burkina Faso and Vatican City went down particularly well - and not just because Mr Brown obviously hadn't read that part of the report."

Telegraph

Frank Johnson: "To his credit, Mr Brown gave no impression that he knew what he was talking about. The situation was more difficult for Mr Prescott. He had to give the impression that he did. Otherwise, those public school characters would once more say he was ignorant. That was only Mr Blair. The Tories would be patronising about him too. The prime minister sat on the other side of Mr Brown, following the written text of the statement on his lap. Mr Prescott could draw comfort from the knowledge that Mr Blair must be really ignorant to need it in writing."

Times

Ben MacIntyre: "As Gordon spoke, Tony Blair studied his speech, carefully checking the chancellor against delivery in case of any treacherous, last-minute departures from the agreed script. You could see the prime minister's lips moving as he read, like a second-rate ventriloquist; which, in a way, he was."

FT

Jean Eaglesham: "The chancellor gave his customary performance, glowering over the dispatch box as he droned economic statistics to the restive Tories opposite. But few colleagues seemed willing to join the 'no, nay, but not never' chorus of nodding Treasury acolytes. Mr Blair's cheery grins - his habitual backing for colleagues' speeches - were noticeable by their absence. Instead, the prime minister used his non-speaking role in the euro-vision duo to dance to a different tune. His grim demeanour and pursed lips, the occasional pained glances skywards, were testimony to weeks of wrangling with the Treasury that preceded yesterday's performance."