Michael Gove tested parliamentary rules when he branded Labour's Brexit plans “b*****ks”, in an outspoken attack in the Commons.

The environment secretary quoted Barry Gardiner, the shadow international trade secretary, who once used the word to describe his own party’s EU policy.

Praising Mr Gardiner's “truth and perfect clarity”, Mr Gove said MPs were grateful for his casting of light on “the testicular nature” of Labour's six Brexit tests.

“He summed them up, pithily, in a word which in Spanish translates as 'cojones' and in English rhymes with 'rollocks', Mr Gove said.

"I know, Mr Speaker, there are some distinguished citizens in this country who have put on their cars a poster or sticker saying 'b*****ks to Brexit' – but we now know from Labour's own frontbench that their official Brexit position is b*****ks.”