Parliament resumed late morning for a question and answer session involving the government's law officer, attorney general Geoffrey Cox QC MP.

It was 90 minutes that recorded some important statements but which eventually gave way to repeated shows of theatrics as honourable and right honourable members auditioned for the pantomime season.

With an upcoming election, some of them may be looking for some seasonal work, come December.

The SNP's Joanna Cherry is always a model of clarity in her questions as she gently probes to get important issues on the parliamentary record. She was concerned that there had been a partial leak of Cox's legal advice to the government on the issue of proroguing parliament.

The Attorney General said he would review, in this instance, whether the convention that legal advice should not be published should be reviewed given the huge public interest surrounding the Supreme Court case. A small concession, which might yet prove be another significant victory for the Scottish MP.

Cox defended robustly the Supreme Court justices and their right to create a new precedent with yesterday's judgment. He heaped praise on judicial standards throughout the UK and he deplored any attempt to impute the motives of judges. There was nothing faux in these defences which were not uttered to play to the 'bash the judges' instincts of some right-wing newspapers.

And in the shortest but in story terms most significant exchange, he was asked if the government would comply with what is called the Benn Act. That's the act which requires Boris Johnson to seek a Brexit extension beyond October 31 if a deal is not agreed by parliament. He answered with one word. 'Yes'.

Having bowed the knee to judicial injunction and defended their lordships honour in the manner you would expect of a law officer, Cox couldn't help himself as his vaudeville impulses took over.

Mr Speaker referred to his 'distinguished and resonant baritone'. Cox, forgetting he was in parliament and not treading the boards in some theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue, then took part in the 'turn of the day competition'.

The Speaker referred to the session as a 'rantfest' and the attorney general was determined to have a starring role. Sounding like a demented Brian Blessed on a new-found drug, he boomed, waved his arms, spun himself around to encourage his colleagues on the government benches to raise the decibel level of baying against the opposition.

To every question that invited a political rant rather than a clever jusrisprudential riposte, Cox proved that he is perfectly capable of leaving legal chambers behind to mix it with the plebs in the cheap seats on the green benches.