By tradition, MPs stayed in the Commons chamber, waiting to be summoned to hear the speech in the Lords by Black Rod.

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Besides this indignity, Black Rod must endure a more recently established humiliation: the traditional irreverent quip from veteran Labour left-winger Dennis Skinner.

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Mr Oborne continues to claim the government's story is at odds with the account contained in a memo by senior parliamentary official Sir Michael Willcocks, otherwise known as Black Rod.

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In a traditional symbol of the Commons' independence from the monarch, Black Rod is hindered by having the door to the Commons unceremoniously slammed in his face - and then opened again almost immediately to allow him in after all.

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