Gary Lineker and Penny Mordaunt have Twitter spat over House of Commons speech

Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt, who represents Portsmouth North, criticised the Labour party’s position on the matter in parliament, saying: ‘They say they want to stop the boats, but they are not prepared to help us do it.’

She went on to mention Gary Lineker – who has famously been critical of the government on the migrant issue – comparing Labour to ‘goalhangers’, and making a play on words on recent industrial action by calling them ‘left-wing strikers’.

Later, Ms Mordaunt tweeted a clip of the speech, with the post featuring a boiled-down version of what she said: ‘They’ve borrowed from Lineker’s playbook. Labour are a party of goalhangers and left-wing strikers. That doesn’t work in politics. The country needs centre forwards, people who are prepared to put the hard work in and create opportunities. And it needs a team captain with a plan.’

And Lineker came back at her with a retort: ‘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.’

His riposte gained favour with several others. Lineker’s former Everton and England team-mate Peter Reid tweeted: ‘Game Set and Match’, while mathematician Carol Vorderman added: ‘Funny.’

Ms Mordaunt’s tweet has been liked more than 3,700 times – Lineker’s has been liked more than 70,000 times.