'Tossers', 'twerps' and 'dimwits'

Wednesday's Prime Minister's Questions may have brought a change of who we saw at the despatch box, but it did bring up the age-old question of what exactly is parliamentary language.

During the debate, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott managed to use the word "tosser" without facing censure from the Speaker of the House Michael Martin.

Mr Prescott's response came after the Labour party was accused of stealing pension funds.

The Deputy Prime Minister then attacked the Conservative party's "Sort It" campaign, which was recently launched to help young Brits tackle personal debt.

"Mr Tosser"

I always thought the party was full of them John Prescott

The campaign features a man in a light blue suit called "Mr Tosser" who lures a young man to use his credit card freely, without caring about the debt he would accumulate.

Mr Prescott said, "I notice from the papers and on television today that the Tories have now brought in a new person to get people to vote Tory, and I could not help noticing that the person is named, as I saw on the website, 'Mr. Tosser'".

"I do not know which person on the Front Bench this man is modelled on, but let me tell the right hon. Gentleman that I always thought that his party was full of them, and that is why they have lost three elections".

Whether Mr Prescott's statement was in the Parliamentary right, or not depends on who you ask.

Parliamentary procedure

The Speaker judges what is 'abusive language' in the Commons

Erskine May, considered the Bible of Parliamentary rules, says that un-parliamentary language includes misrepresenting of the language of another, charges of uttering a deliberative falsehood, and abusing and insulting language of a nature likely to create disorder.

These rules about parliamentary language were meant to be vague as jibes and cat-calling in the Commons has been historically allowed and is to be examined in context.

The Speaker of the House determines whether something is not fit to be said inside the chamber.

Recently, the Speaker called Conservative leader David Cameron to order after asking Prime Minister Blair who his successor would be.

MPs on the rebound

There have been other incidences of MPs behaving wickedly in the Commons, and then being punished by the Speaker.

In December 2005, Labour MP for Bolsover Dennis Skinner was banned from the Commons for a day after implying that Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osbourne has used cocaine.

"The only thing that was growing then was the lines of coke in front of Boy George and the rest of the Tories", Mr Skinner said referring to a story that had run in the "News of the World."

He was asked to retract his statement and after refusing, Mr Martin asked him to leave.

Mr Skinner has a track record of being asked to leave the Commons - nine times since 1979.

He is commonly referred to as the "Beast of Bolsover".

He's not the only one.

"Dimwits" and "Twerps"

John Major, while Prime Minister, had to retract calling then opposition leader Tony Blair a "dimwit".

MPs aside, any negative comments made about the monarchy have also been under fire.

When the late Labour MP Willie Hamilton, described Prince Charles as "that young twerp", he was asked immediately to retract his statement.

As for the latest talk about "Tossers," while it may have passed by the books now, the next time the phrase is raised; it may set a new standard in parliamentary language and procedure sometime in the future.

You can see Prime Minister's Questions every Wednesday at noon on BBC Parliament or watch it at any time on our website.