Once it was David Gauke, then it was Michael Ellis. Now it is Jeremy Quin who bears the honorary title of ‘minister for sticky wickets’. The Paymaster General was called upon to answer an Urgent Question in the House this lunchtime on – what else? – the allegations about Suella Braverman’s speeding fine. He confirmed that Rishi Sunak has ‘asked for further information’ from both Braverman and Sir Laurie Magnus, his independent adviser, after meeting with them both. Quin insisted that ‘It is right that the Prime Minister, as the head of the executive and the arbiter of the ministerial code, be allowed time to receive relevant information on this matter.’

Naturally, such pleas had little traction with the opposition, led by Angela Rayner. As the shadow spokesman for the Cabinet Office and Labour’s deputy leader, Rayner relishes her role as the party’s pugilist-in-chief. She mocked both Braverman and Sunak, asking ‘How many strikes before she is out?’ and sought to broaden the scope from the requests which Home Secretary gave to her civil servants to any instructions issued to her political team to mislead reporters.

Rayner told the House that ‘if the Home Secretary did authorise her special adviser to tell journalists that there was not a speeding penalty’ then it would ‘amount to a breach of the ministerial code.’ This line of attack was picked up by other opposition MPs including Ben Bradshaw, who requested an update on this particular aspect of the case but to no avail. ‘I am not in a position to talk about the specifics of this case in these circumstances,’ came Quin’s response ‘These are early days and the Prime Minister is gathering information.’

The most striking aspect of the session was the support which Braverman received from the Tory benches. Red Wall MP Nick Fletcher called the story ‘nonsense’; Jonathan Gullis said it amounted to a distraction from the small boats crisis. The veteran right-winger Julian Lewis questioned the difference between guidance and instruction. Miriam Cates, a fellow NatCon speaker alongside Braverman, described the episode as a ‘clear attempt to play the woman not the ball’ while Danny Kruger questioned if Labour constituents would be ‘proud of the way their representatives are using their time.’

Edward Leigh asked perhaps the most memorable question of the session, declaring that ‘this moral outrage is ridiculous’ and asking rhetorically ‘What’s wrong with this country? We used to have proper scandals about sex or money or PMs invading Iraq on dodgy evidence.’ A good reflection of backbench opinion was offered in the form of Charles Walker, one of the Tories’ more independently-minded MPs. He admitted that the Home Secretary is ‘not on my Christmas card list and I’m certainly not on hers’ but went on to express his incredulity that the BBC chose to ask about her speeding fine at the G7 summit.

Speakers in the Commons are a self-selecting crowd and Braverman certainly has her critics on the Tory side. But today was a show of force in support of the absent minister – one that will be noted in No. 10 as they consider the Home Secretary’s future.