Don Rafael de Montoya y Alcázar addressed the country yesterday from the steps of the Cámara Baja, in a statement framed around the word discipline and the older Almaria it is meant to invoke. The Nationalist leader spoke of the kingdom that, in his formulation, the present hour would have the citizen forget. He did not name the Prime Minister. He did not need to.

Renko, from the same steps four hours later, answered with an op-ed distributed to the press before it was delivered. "Don Rafael wants to talk about discipline," the Opposition Leader wrote. "Fine. Let's talk about discipline." The piece went on to itemise the Government's handling of the ferry, the corridor, and the registry notifications now reaching some fourteen thousand households.

The exchange, conducted across the same flight of stone within the same working day, is the closest thing the week has produced to a formal debate. The Chamber itself has not sat on either matter. The Prime Minister has not spoken publicly since Monday.

What Monday's fuel vote will do to either man's standing is the question the Chamber corridors are asking, and not answering.