MPs are feeling pretty ashamed of themselves. Quite unexpectedly, and very unedifyingly, they managed to have a row over the tragic death of Baby P.

It was not meant to happen. David Cameron began his weekly grilling of the Prime Minister with what he intended to be one - or at most, two - questions about the case and the nature of the inquiry in Haringey.

He wanted to get across the fact, as he put it, that the London borough’s Head of Children’s Services, whom he said was leading the inquiry, could “not possibly investigate the failure of her own department”.

As it happens, there is at least some dispute about that fact. Under the rules, the local social services department asks an outsidee consultancy to come in and do the report - so it is not written by the department head, as Mr Cameron claimed. This report came back to the department - but whether it was altered by them before being sent in to the Government is unclear.

However, despite the efforts of Labour colleagues on the front-bench to make the facts clear to Mr Brown, he did not quite get the message and so did not correct Mr Cameron.

In the tense atmosphere, MPs became overheated and wound up their leaders. Mr Cameron had intended to concentrate on the economy, but became drawn further into the Baby P case. At one point, he said he did not expect an answer from Mr Brown and suggested he never answered questions.

That angered Mr Brown, who took it as being below the belt and accused Mr Cameron of turning it into a party political issue. That roused Tory MPs to accuse Mr Brown of being cheap. Mr Cameron, clearly angry, demanded Mr Brown withdraw the remark. Mr Brown would have none of it. Result: a lot of heat and noise and, for the watcher, embarrassment.

Mr Cameron never got to ask his questions on the economy; and everyone left feeling slightly uncomfortable.

Most observers would agree that Mr Cameron did not intend his remarks to be party political. But they would also feel that the baying from the Tory side might have made it feel like that to Mr Brown. Haringey, after all, is Labour territory.

The Prime Minsiter would have done better to accept that Mr Cameron had not intended any offence, and withdrawn his claim. That way, MPs might have left the chamber feeling slightly better about themselves. Instead there was a feeling that no one had behaved very well.

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