A world of his own

I never gave much credence to the proposition that the Prime Minister was subject to "psychological flaws" (at least no more than any other politician). But I have to admit that there is something weird about his first substantive answer at yesterday's PMQs:

The Prime Minister: I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who has been a great supporter of business in her constituency. This is real help for business now. It is targeted and focused, it is funded and it is additional to what has been done before. It is real help to small businesses that are looking for help with their overdrafts or looking to invest in the future. It is real help for businesses that are looking for working capital over the next year, and will increase the supply of that by £10 billion. It is real help for high-technology firms that want their debt replaced by equity. We will buy shares in those companies, and there will be real help with credit insurance. This is real help now, to deal with specific problems—real help that is funded by Government.

Source: here

At that stage, no-one had suggested that the proposed business support package did not constitute "real help". So why did the PM need to re-emphasise the real help point by mentioning it seven times? And the question - a soft one from an MP on his own side - looked to have been "planted".

Bizarre.