What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Flapping Theresa May fired off a volley of insults at Jeremy Corbyn today after Labour surged in general election polls.

The desperate Prime Minister even conjured up an image of the Labour leader naked in Brussels as she urged voters to consider the impact of propelling Mr Corbyn to No 10.

She used a Labour legend’s quote as she mocked Mr Corbyn over what she claimed would be his weakness in tough EU divorce talks.

“With his position on Brexit , he will find himself alone and naked in the negotiating chamber,” she said.

“I know that's an image that doesn't bear thinking about but actually this is very serious.”

The barb was particularly wounding for Labour by borrowing the charge from one of the party’s heroes, NHS founder Aneurin Bevan.

Urging Labour conference delegates in October 1957 not to support unilateral nuclear disarmament, he warned: “You will send a British Foreign Secretary, whoever he may be, naked into the conference chamber.”

Challenged by the Mirror, Mrs May denied demeaning the office of Prime Minister with her outspoken attacks.

And she was later forced to deny they showed she was getting "desperate", saying: "It represents the difference between myself, having prepared for the negotiations, having a clear plan for the negotiations, and Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party who have said they would tear up the plan we have produced."

(Image: REUTERS)

Speaking at the former railway station in Wolverhampton, Mrs May claimed her rival's performance in the Sky News/Channel 4 TV showdown proved he could not be PM.

“Despite being a Member of Parliament for 34 years, despite being the leader of the Labour Party for the last two years, he's simply not ready to govern, and not prepared to lead,” she said.

(Image: REUTERS)

“He's not prepared to use the nuclear deterrent, he's not prepared to take action against terrorists, he's not prepared to give the police the powers they need to keep us safe, he's prepared to take a single difficult decision for the good of our economy.

“He's not prepared to answer questions about his long track record of supporting people who wanted to harm and even attack our country.

“With the Brexit negotiations due to begin only 11 days after polling day, he is not prepared for those negotiations.

“But I am prepared – prepared to take the difficult decisions that leadership demands.”

Mrs May's speech drew on the addresses she gave when she became PM in July and her Lancaster House speech in January.

But she also launched an unprecedented attack on Mr Corbyn, ramping up the Tory abuse as the battle for the premiership enters the final straight.

She repeatedly branded him “weak” - and even said his “minders” had dressed him “in a smart blue suit” for the TV appearance.

In the latest relaunch of her stuttering campaign for re-election, the PM tried to switch the focus away from her social care U-turn and back onto Brexit .

It was the “one fundamental, defining issue” of the showdown, she insisted.

What do the general election manifestos say about... Immigration

Housing

Benefits

Legalising cannabis

Painting the June 8 ballot as a straight choice in the race for Downing Street, the Tory chief warned: “If you don't vote for me in this election, you risk sleepwalking into the very real danger that Jeremy Corbyn will find himself in the hot seat, in the negotiating chair on your behalf.”

(Image: Leon Neal)

In an echo of the tactic David Cameron wielded to beat Ed Miliband in 2015, Mrs May said Labour could only return to government if the party was propped up by an EU-supporting “coalition of chaos” involving the SNP and Lib Dems.

“Jeremy Corbyn doesn't have the belief, the will or even the plan to deliver Brexit – and he doesn't have the strength to do so either The only way he can get into No 10 is by doing a deal with the Scottish nationalists and the Liberal Democrats who do not believe in Brexit and do not want it to succeed,” she said.

“This is no time for a weak government and a weak leader to be making it up as they go along.”

Mr Corbyn had “lurched chaotically from half-baked plan to half-baked plan”, said the PM, who has U-turned on not holding a general election, not having a cap on social care costs and over hiking national insurance contributions.

Pumping more fear into floating voters' minds in the run-up to polling day, she said shock election results had swept the globe in the past few years, as she begged electors for their support.