THESE are not happy times at Westminster, with Iraq dominating all. So it was left to Julie Kirkbride's young son Angus to, albeit briefly, return a smile to the face of MPs.

While he may not yet be old enough for school, he already has the voice of a show-stopper.

Angus, the son of Ms Kirkbride and husband and fellow Tory MP Andrew Mackay, made his cameo performance during a debate on the dull but worthy Retirement Income Reform Bill.

As a Private Member's Bill it stands little or no chance of making it on to the statute book, but it covers issues which the Tories view as very important.

As a result they were keen to make sure it at least completed its Second Reading in the Commons and Peter Luff - a Conservative whip - was charged with ensuring at least 100 troops turned out to vote.

(In order to force a vote on a Private member's Bill - stopping the Government from "talking it out" - 100 MPs must be present.)

The upshot of this was a chamber dominated - for just about the first time in years - by Tories.

The Labour benches were deserted and the Tories, thinking of days gone by, were in an excellent mood. Among their number were both Ms Kirkbride and Mr Mackay - and Angus.

Angus is not allowed to go through the division lobby, so Ms Kirkbride sat in the public gallery with the youngster while Mr Mackay voted.

After voting had finished - and it was clear the Tories had won - there was a delay caused by Labour MPs milling around in the lobby.

So the Tories took it is an opportunity to wave to young Angus. He waved back. This went on for a while, before some MPs started to pull friendly faces.

Angus was entertained, but then let out a loud cry. It could have been "Daddy", but it was hard to say.

The MPs all cheered loudly. Ms Kirkbride, perhaps not wanting to detract from Peter Luff's efforts in pulling together such a sizeable Tory army, decided to leave the public gallery.

Which she did, along with Angus. Again there were loud cheers. They had been the first genuine cheers from the Opposition benches in a while

Mr Luff was delighted with the day as a whole. The Bill - which gives pensioners the chance to reinvest pension savings - will doubtless be wrecked by the Government at some stage.

But he had proved his party was still capable of handing out the odd beating to the Government.