John McDonnell has been described as “truly evil” by a Cabinet minister as pressure continued to mount on the shadow chancellor over remarks he made about Esther McVey, the new Work and Pensions Secretary.

Mr McDonnell described Ms McVey as a “stain of inhumanity” in 2015 when he also insisted that he had “nothing to apologise for” after he repeated an activist's call for the Tory MP to be "lynched" in 2014.

Ms McVey’s appointment to the Cabinet in Theresa May’s January reshuffle has prompted renewed scrutiny of the remarks and now Andrea Leadsom, the Commons Leader, has condemned them as “utterly disgusting”.

Meanwhile, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn refused to directly condemn Mr McDonnell for the comments.

It came as Brandon Lewis, the new chairman of the Conservative Party, challenged Mr Corbyn to tackle online abuse after announcing that Tory candidates will sign a pledge to behave responsibly.