A former Cabinet minister has urged MPs to join him by boycotting Prime Minister's Questions because the "rowdiness" is "deeply off-putting" to the general public.
Ben Bradshaw, Labour MP for Exeter, says the half-hour weekly grilling of David Cameron "might improve" if other Members avoided the House of Commons too.
Mr Bradshaw has been an MP since 1997, so has been in the chamber for PMQs when Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and now Mr Cameron have faced the leader of the Opposition and backbenchers.
But the ex-journalist contends the session each Wednesday is now "awful", and says the Speaker John Bercow should "throw out" the "worst offenders".
PMQs is regarded as the centrepiece of the political week in Britain, with the bruising encounters married to end-of-pier humour often likened to Punch 'n' Judy. While the Commons is seldom full – save for major events such as the Budget – the chamber is standing-room-only for PMQs almost every week.
But Mr Bradshaw said: "PMQs has become so awful I would rather be doing something more useful with my time like responding to constituents' letters.
"I still table a question every week and if my name is drawn or I have a burning local issue I want to try to raise in a supplementary question I attend, but most weeks I don't.
"The noise and rowdiness in the Commons' chamber is much worse than the public realise, because they only hear what is broadcast by the single microphone activated above the head of the person speaking. If you're actually in the Chamber yourself, the cacophony is dreadful and you often can't hear what Ed Miliband or David Cameron are saying."
He added: "The whole spectacle is deeply off-putting to most people and sets a terrible example to young people. If more MPs boycotted it might improve. The Speaker does his best to keep order and occasionally names the worst offenders, but he should be much tougher and throw them out."
Earlier this month, Liberal Democrat MP Julian Huppert claimed that some of the groans that greeted him as he rose to his feet in the Commons amounted to bullying. He faced a chorus of disapproval during PMQs when he stood up to talk about National Carers Week. Parliament's official record, Hansard, noted the MPs' response to Mr Huppert on February 13 was "oh no".
Also at PMQs, Catherine McKinnell, Labour MP for Newcastle North, got up to the sound of another MP shouting "whey-aye Geordie girl".
