Veteran socialist MP Dennis Skinner appears to have won his battle to keep his favourite House of Commons seat after Labour accused the Scots Nats of bullying the 83-year-old man.
Mr Skinner has refused to give up his prized front-bench spot despite the SNP's general election triumph, which saw the party win 56 of Scotland's 59 seats.
By convention the third biggest party in the Commons – which has for years been the Liberal Democrats – is given the front bench next to the main opposition party.
But Mr Skinner, the firebrand socialist dubbed the 'beast of Bolsover' – has sat in the same spot whenever Labour has been in opposition for the last 40 years and has refused to move.
Ever since he became an MP 45 years ago, Mr Skinner has placed himself on 'rebel bench' – the closest spot for a backbencher to directly attack the prime minister.
However, SNP MPs have attempted to block Mr Skinner from taking his seat in a bid to assert their new political strength.
But the 83-year-old Commons veteran has steadfastly refused to budge – leading SNP MPs to retaliate by invading Labour's traditional benches.
Labour and the SNP held crisis talks in the Commons yesterday afternoon in a bid to break the impasse – but failed to strike a deal.
However, the SNP MP Pete Wishart, who has led the party's Commons protest, told MailOnline they were prepared to 'compromise with certain individuals' as long as Labour accepted they had to give up the front bench.
He said the party had gone into the meeting 'trying to be as reasonable as possible'.
Mr Wishart said: 'Labour have got to get over this. They lost. They cannot tell us to go to the back of the class and shut up.
'We have to have the front bench. However we are trying to be reasonable. We will be respectful to certain individuals.'
Mr Wishart, the SNP's shadow leader of the Commons, said the party did not want to continue its protest by sitting on Labour's benches.
He added: 'The last thing we want to do is sit with the Labour party. Just give us our space.'
Cameron under fire for refusing to ditch 'stupid' promise to...
Mr Skinner, pictured in his prize House of Commons spot on the 'rebels bench' in 1989 (right) and earlier this week (left), is facing a fight to keep his position
But a Labour source said the row revealed that the SNP was not interested in fighting the Conservatives.
'During the general election the SNP told the people of Scotland that if elected their number one focus would be taking on the Tories. Sadly, their true priorities in their first week after being elected has been where they sit in the chamber,' he said.
The Labour source added: 'All they seem to be bothered about is kicking an 83-year-old man out of a seat.'
The growing row comes after SNP MPs were urged to start behaving like 'adults' in the Commons.
New MPs have been told not to take 'selfies' in Parliament by staff of the chief whip, Mike Weir, following a backlash when one party member posed at the Dispatch Box.
SNP MPs have been criticised for posing by the Dispatch Box pretending to be the prime minister, and applauding in the Commons chamber.
The beast remains seated
The beast remains seated
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”