"appropriately rewarded" (update)

Further to this post and this post, I have looked up the official Hansard report of the relevant exchange at PMQs yesterday:

Mr. David Cameron (Witney) (Con): "Will the Prime Minister confirm what he said on the 42 days vote: that no deals were made, no jobs were offered and no rewards were promised?

The Prime Minister: Yes.

Mr. Cameron: I am grateful for the very short and very clear answer. Perhaps the Prime Minister can explain why, this morning, a letter has been published by The Daily Telegraph from the Labour Chief Whip to the right hon. Member for Leicester, East (Keith Vaz) that says:

“Thank you for all your help during the period leading up to last Wednesday’s votes. I wanted you to know how much I appreciated all of your help. I trust that it will be appropriately rewarded!”

Can the Prime Minister tell us what the Chief Whip meant by “appropriately rewarded”?

The Prime Minister: We thanked the Chairman of the Home Affairs Committee for doing exactly the right thing: for voting in the spirit of the report of the Home Affairs Committee and voting with the Government. As for the allegations being made about the Ulster Unionists and the Democratic Unionist party, I think that the right hon. Gentleman should listen to what they say about terrorism; they know more about it than almost anyone in the House.

Mr. Cameron: Have we not, once again, seen the Prime Minister’s utter inability to be straight with people? Why cannot he give a straight answer to a straight question? The Chief Whip —[ Interruption. ]

Mr. Speaker: Order.

Mr. Cameron: The Chief Whip, who should be wriggling with embarrassment, wrote to the Chairman of the Select Committee on Home Affairs—the job of the right hon. Member for Leicester, East—and said:

“I trust that”

you

“will be appropriately rewarded!”

So let me ask the Prime Minister again: do not take people for fools; tell us the truth—what did he mean?

The Prime Minister: He meant that he was thanking the Chairman of the Home Affairs Committee for doing exactly the right thing, and if the right hon. Gentleman has any allegation to make—

Mr. Speaker: Order."

No mention that Mr Speaker's "Order" was followed by Gordon Brown not finishing his point. I read somewhere that a minister need not even get up and answer a question if he doesn't want to, if Gordon Brown read that then PMQs will involve even less answering of questions than now...