There was little doubt that today's unexpected return to Parliament would be a fraught affair, but an ebullient session with Attorney General Geoffrey Cox reached boiling point as he accused MPs of having "no moral" right to sit in Parliament.

In an urgent question about Mr Cox's legal advice on the suspension of parliament, the senior Conservative dared Labour MPs to support their calls for a general election, branding them "spineless" for dodging the opportunity to go back to the country.

Speaking just 24 hours after the Supreme Court ruled Boris Johnson's decision to prorogue Parliament was unlawful, Mr Cox refused to consider resigning his Cabinet position, instead describing the current Commons session as "dead".

“Denying the electorate the chance of having its say this Parliament is a dead Parliament," he said. "It has no moral right to sit on these green benches. Twice they have been asked to let the electorate decide whether they should sit in their seats while they block 17.4 million votes, this Parliament is a disgrace."

But the comments drew fury from Labour MP Barry Sheerman who launched a vicious attack on Mr Cox and other ministers for daring to accuse MPs of lacking morals.

"The fact that this government cynically manipulated the prorogation to shut down this house so it couldn't work as a democratically assembly," he raged.

"He knows that is the truth and to come here with his barrister's bluster to obfuscate the truth, for him to come here and talk about morals and morality is a disgrace.

"For a man like him, a party like this, and a leader like this to talk about morals and morality is a disgrace!"

With parliament still in deadlock, the frenetic atmosphere seems unlikely to change anytime soon.