A senior Labour MP made a public apology after one of his colleagues accused Prince Philip of cheating on the Queen and criticised Prince Harry's military service.

John Woodcock, the former chair of the powerful backbench defence committee, said the remarks made by Emma Dent Coad do not represent the views of the party.

Speaking at a fringe event at the party's annual conference in Brighton Ms Dent Coad - who is the elected MP for the Royal family, embarked on an extraordinary rant in which she also incorrectly claimed Prince Harry cannot fly helicopters.

She said: "Harry can't actually fly a helicopter so they had to make him co-pilot. So he just sits there going 'vroom vroom".

In fact the Prince has served in the army for a decade, completed two tours of Afghanistan and rose to the rank of Captain.