Just seven Members wanted to speak and, at its fullest, the Commons chamber contained only 20 of the nation’s 659 MPs. By the end of the afternoon session that had dwindled to about a dozen, perhaps proving the wisdom of a trial proposed in some London schools of holding lessons in the mornings only.

The debate, from 1.38pm to 5.26pm, was led heroically by Ivan Lewis, the junior Education Minister in charge of (school) attendance, who managed to speak for 54 minutes before concluding that there was “no magic wand” to compel full attendance.

How true. Mr Lewis struggled to find companions for the government front bench after David Miliband, the Schools Minister, missed registration. He was eventually joined by Alan Johnson, the Higher Education Minister.

Tim Yeo, the Shadow Education Secretary, said: “I think what we have here is a case of the minister playing truant.” How then did Mr Yeo explain his own absence? “I had lunch with the president of the Royal Society and a meeting with the president of the Royal College of Physicians,” he said.

Mr Miliband’s excuse was provided by the Department for Education and Skills. It said that he had been fulfilling a long-standing engagement: a meeting with head teachers in Birmingham. T

he Labour MP Graham Allen did attend and afterwards told The Times: “My assumption was that most of the rebel Labour MPs were queueing up outside the headmaster’s study to be spoken to about university fees.”

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