Colourful MP Nicholas Soames made Parliamentary history when he interrupted an opponent with the word "b******s".

It is well known the Mid Sussex MP's famous grandfather was never stuck for a withering put-down to get himself out of a spot.

Winston Churchill's legendary wit could cut through the most intransigent opponent like a rapier.

But Mr Soames' attempts to follow in his famous ancestor's footsteps are becoming, perhaps, a little more blunt.

The outspoken Tory MP caused consternation when he interrupted a Labour opponent with the one-word put-down.

The exchange, recorded for posterity on the vellum pages of Parliamentary journal Hansard, came during a heated committee debate on the Government's controversial Bill to ban hunting.

Westminster watchers believe it is the first time the official record has carried the distinctly Anglo-Saxon jibe.

Mr Soames, a passionate supporter of hunting, was angered by an amendment to the Bill put forward by Labour MP Mike Foster to ban the use of terriers in hunting.

In a somewhat long-winded application the MP, who gained notoriety among countryside supporters for trying to ban hunting with dogs in the last Parliament, said Tories were failing to recognise the vicious battles which take place underground between Jack Russell dogs and foxes.

At this point, Mr Soames stepped in with his one-word response, a little more hushed than his usual boom but still clearly audible.

Mr Foster then picked up on the remark, stating: "The word used by the honourable member for Mid Sussex, which I happened to hear, was totally unparliamentary.

"I did not know the word was a parliamentary term."

The chairman of the Hunting Committee, George Stevenson, tried to restore calm: "Order. Here we are again. I did not hear what was said.

"If I do hear it, I shall take the strongest possible action."

This is not the first time the colourful Tory MP has behaved in a fashion not always associated with the corridors of power during the committee sessions.

Clashing with shapely anti-hunt Labour MP Candy Atherton, he said she was "luckier than she looks".

And elfin junior Minister Yvette Cooper also reportedly found herself caught in his sights when he fired off a retort of "Boy! Boy! Sit down boy! Sit down boy!"

But perhaps it all comes down to his upbringing after all.

Born in 1948, and educated at St Aubyns, Sussex and Eton College, Nicholas Soames was 17 when his grandfather died.

One of his first memories is being told, aged five, that his grandfather was the greatest man in all the world.

Intrigued, the young boy went into his grand-father's room and squeaked: "Grandpapa. Is it true that you are the greatest man in all the world?"

"Yes it is", growled Churchill. "Now bugger off."

Mr Soames once savaged John Prescott, a former ship's waiter, with: "A gin and tonic for me, Giovanni."

He also told Labour firebrand Dennis Skinner, ahead of a trip North with the Duke of Devonshire: "Look here, Skinner, I'm coming up to Derbyshire this weekend for some shooting with Andrew.

"I thought I might like to look in on you, so you'd better lay in some gulls' eggs, that sort of thing, and get that wife of yours out of curlers."

One of Churchill's most famous quips was in response to a curt reprimand by Labour MP Bessie Braddock MP.

She is believed to have said in 1946 "Winston, you're drunk!", to which he replied, "Bessie, you're ugly, but tomorrow I shall be sober and you shall still be ugly."

On another famous occasion Lady Astor - the first woman to ever hold a seat in the House of Commons - said to the Prime Minister as she poured coffee at a dinner party: "Winston, if I were your wife, I'd put poison in your coffee."

"Nancy," Churchill replied to the acid-tongued woman, "if I were your husband, I'd drink it."