Comedian and political satirist Armando Iannucci was obliged to defend his acceptance of an Order of the British Empire medal on Saturday, after a full-blooded attack from one of his alleged sources of creative inspiration – Alastair Campbell.

Campbell, the former spokesman for Tony Blair and model for Malcolm Tucker, pictured below, in Iannucci's BBC sitcom The Thick of It, mocked the satirist for accepting an honour from the British establishment.

"So @ AIannucci OBE joins the Establishment he claims to deride. Malcolm Tucker and I do not approve of honours system," Campbell said on Twitter, sparking a series of testy exchanges with the writer who once penned a spoof column purporting to be by the former New Labour spin doctor.

Joking in the foul-mouthed persona of Tucker, Campbell accused Iannucci of joining the tribe he had become famous for parodying.

Speaking after the spat, Iannucci denied his OBE would impede his comedy in any way. "Does Chris Hoy cycle less well after being honoured? Is there a suggestion that he has sold out?" he asked. "My comedy is not about judging where people come from, or what they are called or what school they went to. I don't care. It is about what they do."

Iannucci said it was a matter of being polite and discreet. "If you accept any awards or prizes then why not this one?" he told the Observer. "I have accepted honorary degrees too and it seems to me bad manners not to. It is good manners to accept and then bad manners to crow about it afterwards."

Online, the comedian responded to Campbell by comparing his alleged offence to the Blair government's decision to march into Iraq. "It's probably more Establishment to order your army to march into other countries for no reason," he tweeted.

Leading broadcast journalists Andrew Neil and Samira Ahmed joined the Twitter dispute. "Why would somebody who constantly parades their anti-establishment credentials accept such a bauble?" asked Neil, adding that he believed journalists should also never accept honours "from people we are supposed to be holding to account".

Speaking later, Campbell argued that, although he admired Iannucci's work, he "could not resist asking the question" because of his own long-held opposition to the honours system. "I have always had a bit of a thing about it, partly because I know what it is like and how it works. People may ask why we did not change it while we had the chance, but the truth is that Tony Blair did not see it as a priority and he was the prime minister. He also felt it was something that made a lot of people very happy."

Campbell did not believe performers could be forgiven for accepting public plaudits. "Satirists like Armando have extraordinary recognition in this country. He is definitely popular and rightly so. But if you have made your name by making fun of the establishment, which he has done very cleverly, then it weakens it if you accept an honour. It seems strange that someone who should invent Malcolm Tucker's character should start spinning his own answers to these questions."

The former master of spin said although he was now part of the establishment he retained "an anti-establishment streak". He argued that while David Frost had accepted a knighthood, he suspected the satirist and interviewer would not have done so while starring on the hit 1960s satirical show That Was the Week That Was.

Campbell's former political colleague and friend, Tessa Jowell, who becomes a dame, was entitled to accept her award, he argued, because she had not set herself up in opposition to the established institutions of state.

Campbell said he believed satire was important because it could actually damage politicians. "Jack Straw came to me quite worried about the effect of the portrayal of the relationship between Tony and me in Rory Bremner's show, and in the 1980s David Steel was certainly damaged by the Spitting Image puppet of him sitting in David Owen's pocket."

Iannucci made fun of his own new status by suggesting on Twitter that he had joined an army platoon of celebrities: "I now have to salute Kate Winslet. Gareth Malone and I drive a tank."