Angela Rayner called Rishi Sunak a “pint-sized loser” as she called on the Tories to call a general election.
Labour’s deputy leader made fun of the diminutive prime minister’s 5ft 7in height as she stood in for Keir Starmer at prime minister’s questions.
She went head-to-head with deputy PM Oliver Dowden, who is reported to have urged Sunak to hold the election in June or July.
“I read with interest that the right honourable gentleman has been urging his neighbour in No.10 call an election because he’s worried they might get wiped out,” Rayner said.
“Has he finally realised that when he stabbed Boris Johnson in the back to get his mate into No.10 he was ditching their biggest election winner for a pint-sized loser?”
Sunak has repeatedly said his “working assumption” is that the election will be in the “second half” of this year - generally assumed to mean October or November.
Dowden said Rayner was “always looking to attack others’ failures” but was “never the one to take responsibility for her own”.
The session came amid Tory pressure on Rayner over allegations - which she strongly denies - that she might have broken electoral law with her living arrangements.
It is not the first time Labour has made fun Sunak for his height, last year Starmer asked the prime minister if the job of leading the country was “too big” for him.
The two deputies were taking part in PMQs as Sunak is abroad meeting German chancellor Olaf Scholz.
