Penny Mordaunt has accused Keir Starmer of having “zero balls” in a bizarre Commons outburst.
She took aim at the Labour leader after he called Rishi Sunak “inaction man” during yesterday’s prime minister’s questions.
Mordaunt, who is leader of the Commons, retaliated by comparing Starmer to “Beach Ken” from the hit movie Barbie.
Referring to Starmer’s dig at the PM, she said: “I don’t think that line will survive contact with the prime minister’s work rate, but let me rise to the bait and return the serve, because I think the Labour leader is Beach Ken.
“Beach Ken stands for nothing on shifting sands, in his flip-flops staring out to sea, doing nothing constructive to stop small boats or grow the economy.
“When we examine his weak record on union demands, on border control, on protecting the public and stopping small boats, we discover that like Beach Ken he has zero balls.”
It echoed a 2013 speech Mordaunt made in the Commons in which she repeatedly said the word “cock” to win a bet with Naval colleagues.
Mordaunt’s latest outburst also brought back memories her embarrassing attack on Gary Lineker in the Commons in March.
The former England striker was at the centre of controversy after he said some of the language used by the government to promote its latest immigration crackdown was “not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s”.
In her cringey speech, Mordaunt said: “Labour are borrowing from the Gary Lineker playbook.
“They are a party of goal-hangers and the occasional left-wing striker. Hanging around the goalmouth, poised to seize any opportunities and take an easy shot.
″But that only works if the ball is in the right half. This country doesn’t need goal-hangers, it needs centre forwards.
“It needs people who put in the hard work, take tough decisions, grip a problem and work out how to solve it and create those opportunities - and that is what we are doing.”
Responding on Twitter, Lineker said: “Thank you for mentioning me in your clumsy analogy. I’m just happy to have been better in the 6 yard box than you are at the dispatch box. Best wishes.”