PMQs today: Prime Minister David Cameron and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn trade insults about each other’s mothers amid questions over NHS junior doctors
Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) descended into something resembling a schoolyard row this afternoon, with Prime Minister David Cameron and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn swapping insults about each other's mothers.
The arguing started when Corbyn pressed Cameron on the ongoing dispute between health secretary Jeremy Hunt and National Health Service (NHS) junior doctors.
Corybyn said the government would not build a "strong NHS" by "provoking industrial action" and "failing to get a grip on the costs of agency staff", before citing cuts to agency staff in Oxfordshire and asking Cameron whether, as "chair of the Oxfordshire anti-austerity movement", he would write a "letter to himself" on the matter.
After one MP shouted, "Ask your mother!", Cameron bit back by saying his mother would have told Corbyn: "Put on a proper suit, do up your tie and sing the national anthem!"
The Prime Minister's mother, Mary Cameron, confirmed earlier this month that she had signed a petition opposing planned cuts to children's services in the Prime Minister's own constituency in Oxfordshire.
And the Prime Minister came under sharp criticism from Labour last November when leaked letters showed that he had also petitioned the Conservative-run council to halt cuts to social services.
Corbyn replied to Cameron's comment, today, however, by saying: "My late mother would have said stand up for the principle of a health service free at the point of use for everybody."
In his reply, Cameron said: "My mother is equally proud of the NHS as I am."