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Political nerds were treated to an interesting little bit of parliamentary protocol yesterday. In debating the motion about whether Jeremy Hunt was, to paraphrase, a lying cheating scumbag, one Labour MP, Chris Bryant, said explicity that Hunt had lied to the house.

Apparently it's considered "unparliamentary" language for one MP to accuse another of lying. Normally, any MP making such an accusation would incur the wrath of the Speaker and be required to withdraw the remark. On this occasion, however, Speaker Bercow ruled that it was OK. I gather that an exception was made because they were discussing a motion specifically about Hunt's honesty, so it was considered acceptable in context.

But this is all very odd.

You have to wonder why MPs get so worked up about using the word "lie" to describe each other. There are far more "unparliamentary" things that are absolutely routine in Parliament. The appalling weekly spectacle of Prime Minister's Questions is a good example. For those of you who haven't seen it, the leader of the opposition starts by saying to the Prime Minister "Would the Prime Minister agree that he smells of poo?", to which the Prime Minister replies "Yeah, but your mum smells of dog poo!" OK, I paraphrase a little, but it really is at exactly that level. If a class of 5-year-olds were to behave as badly as MPs do at PMQs, I dare say the teacher would be putting most of them in detention. There is never any attempt whatever from either side to engage in meaningful debate. It's all about who can come up with the most smart-arse soundbite to try to make the other side look daft. Of course, outside the Westminster bubble, it fails spectacularly to do that, and simply makes the person making the jibes look daft.

No, on reflection, "daft" isn't the right word. Unprofessional, childish, and completely unfit to be in any position of responsibility, much less running the country. That would be a better description.

So given that they seem to have no problem with looking completely unparliamentary every Wednesday lunchtime (and much of the rest of the time as well), why all the faux outrage about using the word "lie"?

Well, my theory is that it's all a bit too close to the bone. MPs like to pretend that they are "honourable". They even call themselves "honourable members". Perhaps they think if they say it often enough it will become true. But the truth is that MPs lie all the time. Banning the word, under normal circumstances, is probably just their little way of pretending that it doesn't happen.

I guess that banning "lie" from parliament is a bit like inserting the word "democratic" in the phrase "Democratic Republic of North Korea".