AS the Iraq crisis turned into the Iraq war, the back-biting, name-calling and jeering of Westminster politics all but disappeared.

MPs, conscious they should not be fighting each other at a time when British troops were engaged in real combat, called an uneasy truce.

Gone was the familiar Labour claim the Tories would cut spending on public services by a fabled 20 per cent. On hold were opposition arguments the Labour Government has "failed" on just about everything. Even the vicious Tory in-fighting and plotting stopped.

This week it returned to business as usual, as MPs set about scoring points in local election week - and Conservative frontbencher Crispin Blunt tried to publicly knife his leader.

The tone was set during a Commons statement on Iraq on Monday. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw pointed out that British troops had already repaired and reopened the railway line between Umm Qasr and Basra, and was now extending it to Baghdad.

Opposition MPs pointed out they had managed this feat in around a fifth of the time it took to re-open the Central Line in London, and one thousandth of the time spent messing with the West Coast Line. They wouldn't have done that during the war.

On Tuesday we had a debate loosely titled "impact of government policies on community services". It was actually just an excuse for all sides to lay into each other - which they did with relish.

Labour said Tory councils charged the most Council Tax, the Tories said the Government had left schools out of pocket and the Lib Dems said the other two parties didn't have a clue.

By Prime Minister's questions on Wednesday things were really hotting up - particularly as Iain Duncan Smith had declared he would win the next election and was not "bullsh*tting".

He mocked Tony Blair by quoting the words of Fiona Millar - a Downing Street advisor and partner of Alastair Campbell - saying Labour had given schools a rough deal. We also heard hospitals were failing, taxes were soaring and Britain was the leper of Europe as the French and Germans marched towards a Euro army.

Mr Blair replied by getting personal, turning his attention to Mr Duncan Smith's own constituency in Chingford and what a wonderful job Labour had done there. The Tory leader didn't like this at all and lost his temper.

As Labour MP hooted and waved, some observers claim something truly astonishing happened. Mr Duncan Smith said the Government had actually done something else to schools - and it rhymes with "mucked up".

This is denied and the official Parliamentary record, Hansard, contains no record of an obscenity - but the fact people thought he could have said it offers an insight into the mood in the Commons.

If there was swearing to be done, it is more likely to have happened last night - with the abuse being directed towards Mr Blunt, a fairly obscure frontbench Trade spokesman.

He broke the thermometer when - seconds after the polls closed - he re-opened wounds which had never really healed by likening Mr Duncan Smith to a failed football manager and saying he should fall on his sword.

Mr Blunt was gambling on a poor Tory showing in the local elections. He lost, as a low turnout helped Mr Duncan Smith seize at least 540 seats.

Today he was unrepentant - rather spectacularly hinting former leader William Hague should make a comeback.

It is good to be back to normal.

Updated: 11:38 Friday, May 02, 2003