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Theresa May branded Boris Johnson an “FFS” when challenged over whether she should have told him to “F-off” rather than make him Foreign Secretary.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Bootle Labour MP Peter Dowd quizzed Mrs May: “In the light of the Foreign Secretary’s display of chronic foot and mouth disease, when deciding on Cabinet positions does the Prime Minister now regret that pencilling FO against his name should have been an instruction not a job offer.”

Colleagues on the Opposition benches erupted in laughter, with many Tory MPs looking grim-faced.

Speaker John Bercow had to intervene to calm down the Chamber.

Mrs May then quipped back: “The Foreign Secretary is doing an absolutely excellent job.

“He is in short, an ‘FFS’ - a fine Foreign Secretary.”

FFS on social media means “for f**k’s sake” and FO is colloquial to “f**k off”.

The exchange came just hours after Mr Johnson joked about Mrs May and her “lederhosen” at a reception for ambassadors in central London.

Downing Street slapped down the former Mayor of London last week for comments about Saudi Arabia.