“In the light of the foreign secretary’s display of chronic foot-in-mouth disease, when deciding on cabinet positions, does the prime minister now regret that penciling 'FO' against his name should have been an instruction, not a job offer,” he said. "FO" is an abbreviation for a commonly used vulgar expression.

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Dowd's Labour colleagues laughed heartily. Some on the Conservative benches could be seen trying to stifle smiles.

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As often happens in such cases, Speaker John Bercow was forced to intervene by shouting “Order!” and demanding silence.

May then quipped: “The Foreign Secretary is doing an absolutely excellent job. He is, in short, an 'FFS' — a fine foreign secretary.”

You can watch the exchange here:

Some wondered whether May had another phrase in mind when she used the three-letter acronym — like "FO," "FFS" also has a crass alternative meaning.

Since becoming prime minister, May has found a number of opportunities to gently mock Johnson, and there are suggestions that he is tired of being the punchline of jokes made by his government colleagues.

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In her speech this fall to the Conservative Party conference, May joked about Johnson’s ability — or inability — to stay on message. She began her keynote address by saying that big questions are “hanging in the air,” such as whether the country has a plan for exiting the European Union, and “can Boris Johnson stay on message for a full four days?”

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It’s unclear whether this is all good-natured fun, or whether it speaks to a larger tension in the relationship between May and Johnson, who have clashed previously on issues such as the expansion of Heathrow airport and the use of water cannons for riot control on London streets.

Downing Street also recently slapped down Johnson's suggestion that Saudi Arabia — a key ally of Britain — was acting as a “puppeteer” by backing “proxy wars” in the Middle East.

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But the foreign secretary has shown that the barbs can fly both ways.

On Tuesday night at a swanky diplomatic reception, he made a joke that referenced "trousergate" — the controversy over May wearing a pair of $1,200 leather pants at a recent photo shoot with the Sunday Times. She has come under scrutiny for the expensive pants (never mind that male politicians wear suits that cost far more.)

In his speech, Johnson highlighted the trade links between the European Union and the United Kingdom, and he mentioned some of the products that Britain imports from places such as Germany.