The House of Commons will today hold a general debate on Ukraine, the first for several weeks. It is right that the military, diplomatic and political implications are regularly discussed in Parliament. This is the biggest geo-political crisis in Europe since 1945 and the conflict is turning into a proxy stand-off between Nato and Russia. What does this mean for our foreign policy and defence budget; should countries like Finland be brought into Nato; do we need to revisit the Strategic Review entitled Global Britain in a Competitive Age published last year? We will be living with the ramifications of the past two months for the next two decades.

Such a debate will also elevate the gaze of our MPs to weightier matters than “partygate” and the latest subject to foment discord, the furore over Angela Rayner’s legs. Great offence has been taken by the Labour deputy leader and other MPs about a story in the Mail on Sunday suggesting she was distracting Boris Johnson during Prime Minister’s Question Time. It is extraordinary that this has been elevated into a cause celebre when so much else is going on. The anger of parliamentarians is also being directed at the messenger rather than the tawdry source of the claim. MPs are even demanding that the Commons pass of the story’s author should be removed and Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, has requested a meeting with the newspaper’s editor to “demand an explanation”.

Last week, a Labour MP called for the pass of the sketch writer of The Times to be withdrawn because of the “unacceptable” content of an article. Are newspapers now expected to tailor their reportage to the whims of what MPs consider appropriate?