Like most pub brawls, it started with a dispute about who said what.

MPs on the Business and Enterprise Committee inquiring into the power of the big pub companies today clearly thought Enterprise Inns boss Ted Tuppen was asking for it when he called them "moronic" in an earlier interview.

Tuppen, backtracking fast, said the MPs were really his best mates, and couldn't they settle things over a drink? The BEC was interrogating Tuppen and Punch Taverns chief executive Giles Thorley over whether they exploit publicans.

Landlords' group The Fair Pint Campaign has persuaded at least some on the committee that the tied arrangement which forces them to buy beer from the pubcos at higher rates than they could get elsewhere is not fair. Tuppen earlier dismissed those who think so - he claims he was referring to just one MP as a moron. "I do not believe that MPs are moronic. I was not referring to all of you," he said in a semi-apology that just wound up his opponents.

The pubcos are burdened by billions in debts - the real reason, say critics, why they squeeze landlords so hard.

"We can't sacrifice an entire industry just because you made some bad commercial decisions," said Peter Luff (Conservative, Mid-Worcester). "That would be my moronic point." Tuppen changed tack, complaining that some tenants were going behind his back to buy cheaper beer elsewhere: "There are people who are stealing from us. This is not a Robin Hood crime."

Lindsay Hoyle, the professional Northerner who doubles as MP for Chorley, was having none of it.

"So presumably the brewers are in on this too. That's a very serious thing you are suggesting. How many times have you been to the police?" he asked, in his best come-off-it-mate voice. Tuppen scrabbled for numbers, and admitted it was a minor problem.

It was round one to Fair Pint. Tuppen and Thorley may need some muscle to escape before it gets nasty.