John Bercow has some competition. Truth be told the near hour-long Budget statement, while important, can be a tad dry. Today's proceedings were livened up not by the politicians, but by the man charged with keeping them all under control.
On Budget day it is not the Speaker who takes charge, but one of his deputies, Lindsay Hoyle. And he stole the show.
His Twitter prediction was accurate. Not long after the chancellor's statement got underway Hoyle was forced to intervene to calm everyone down. Osborne was struggling to be heard over Labour MPs energised by the unfortunate 'leaking' of the Budget statement to the Evening Standard.
"Obviously the country is waiting to hear the chancellor. I certainly want to hear the chancellor, and I am sure that most people in the Chamber also want to hear the chancellor. Please let us hear the chancellor," Hoyle implored.
As an excited Ed Balls waved a photocopy of the London free sheet's front page in Osborne's face, Hoyle had to jump in again.
"Let us start as we mean to go on," he chastised Balls. "The shadow chancellor may not have been the chancellor, but he should observe the courtesies, and should know better."
Tory MPs enjoyed that, jeering Balls. Hoyle was unimpressed and quickly turned his tongue on them. "We want no advice from the government, and they should know better than to display it. I do not wish to see it. That is not a good position to put us in. Let us continue, and let this not become the circus of the day."
"May I say to back benchers and to a couple of Members in particular that the panto season is not for another nine months, and if there are auditions could they take place outside the Chamber?"
As Ed Miliband got to his feet Hoyle also smacked down cheering Labour MPs. "I can't understand an opposition who don't want to hear their leader," he told them.
Enjoying his role as Commons ringmaster, Hoyle later shut down one Tory backbencher: "I think your voice could be better saved for Chester FC this weekend, they are top of the league I think you'd be better cheering them on."
As Osborne ploughed on the volume in the chamber rose."It's not a competition of who can shout the loudest," Hoyle bellowed, which must have come as a shock to most MPs who largely think it is. And even if it were, Hoyle would have won.
SEE ALSO:
- At A Glance Guide To The Budget
- Evening Standard Apologises For Leaking Front Page On Twitter
- Thousands Of Civil Servants In Budget Day Walkout
- The 2013 All Male Treasury Minister Line-Up
- PICS: George Osborne's Twitter Photo Gets Hijacked
- Bored Of The Budget? March 20 Also Ushers In 10 Other 'Days'
- Osborne Joins Twitter, Is Obliterated With Insults
- Osborne To Wield Axe Again And Impose Extra £2.5bn Of Cuts