The Left-wing MP who mocked ‘white van man’ has got embroiled in a class-war row with a leading Ukip politician over the way traditional Labour voters backed Brexit.

Ukip MEP Steven Woolfe and Labour’s Emily Thornberry clashed angrily after Mr Woolfe boasted how his party had won over the ‘council estate’ vote.

Ms Thornberry, who was accused of snobbery when she tweeted a photo of a house with a white van outside and flags of St George in the window in the 2014 Rochester by-election, hit back – saying she had come from a council estate.

Ukip MEP Steven Woolfe and Labour’s Emily Thornberry clashed angrily after Mr Woolfe boasted how his party had won over the ‘council estate’ vote

The dispute blew up when Mr Woolfe – also raised on an estate – and Shadow Defence Secretary Ms Thornberry appeared on Radio 4’s Any Questions? She claimed young people would resent the way older people who voted overwhelmingly for Brexit had affected their lives. She recalled her student days, adding: ‘I was very lucky when I got off my council estate, I ended up going to university.’

Mr Woolfe retorted: ‘The one thing I did when I got off my estate was I didn’t insult people who had my own flag during an election or someone who had a white van. I remembered where I came from.’

Ms Thornberry replied: ‘I wondered how long that would take to come up.’

Addressing the Labour MP and his audience, Mr Woolfe continued: ‘And the reason why you lost in this room is because you did not understand those people who live on the council estates.

‘There are people who have half or a quarter of the income of most of the people in this room. That is why they came out and voted, they wanted a future that was good for them, not just a future for you and your middle-class values that are elitist, metropolitan and different to the rest of them.’