“Are you lying to your shareholders” barked Margaret Hodge as she had her moment in the limelight chairing a Public Accounts Committee hearing this afternoon with representatives Google, Starbucks and Amazon – three global companies that pay huge amounts of tax in the UK, but perfectly legally and sensibly reduce their tax bills.

Hodges’ mock incredulity, amateur dramatics and Vaz-esque playing to the camera would have carried more weight if she had not been busted over the weekend profiting as a shareholder from her family firm that paid just 0.01% tax in the  UK last year. Were Stemcor’s directors lying to her as a shareholder? Or is Hodge just a spectacular hypocrite?