The House of Commons timetable will be ripped up to allow MPs to attend Lady Thatcher’s funeral today, after George Galloway failed in a last-gasp attempt to block the move.

But the Bradford West MP won the support of 14 other MPs – including two tellers for the vote – after insisting “a vital part of our democratic process” should go ahead.

Nevertheless, the vote was lost by 245 votes to 13, allowing David Cameron to scrap the weekly 30-minute joust, held at noon every Wednesday – just as today’s funeral will finish.

Mr Galloway spoke for more than 30 minutes last night, condemning the plan to cancel prime minister’s questions, in order for MPs to go to St Paul’s Cathedral instead.

To the anger of many Tories, the Respect MP argued the cancellation – agreed by all major parties – epitomised a funeral that was “too expensive, too extravagant and too regal”.

And he said: “It is wrong to suspend a vital part of our democratic process for a party political and private event.”

The MP also attacked the silencing of Big Ben’s chimes today and the BBC’s refusal to play the song ‘Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead’ – propelled to number two in the charts by anti-Thatcher protesters.

He added: “The decision to muffle Big Ben – just after the BBC muffled Ding Dong – sums the whole thing up. It’s become farcical.

“There was no national consensus around the deceased and no justification for muffling Big Ben. That’s put the deceased on a par with Mr Churchill.”

Condemning the way “industrial areas were reduced to distressed areas” in the Thatcher years, Mr Galloway said: “They have never forgiven her - but they are being told they must pay for this funeral.”

However, Commons leader Andrew Lansley accused Mr Galloway of a string of “false analogies and irrelevancies” about Lady Thatcher, who died last week.

Mr Lansley claimed the Bradford West MP had attended just 13 per cent of votes staged since his shock by-election victory just over one year ago - undermining his claims about the importance of Parliament.