A government aide rebuked by the Speaker for shouting down Jeremy Corbyn during Prime Minister's Questions received whispered instructions from Theresa May's new chief whip seconds earlier, The Sunday Telegraph has been told.

David Morris was seen leaning forwards from his seat behind Mrs May to listen to Julian Smith, who was appointed earlier this month, before loudly heckling the Labour leader during an attack on the Government's Universal Credit scheme last week.

The shouting prompted a stern intervention by John Bercow, the Commons Speaker, who later warned that "a concerted effort" to shout someone down "is totally undemocratic and completely unacceptable".

A Conservative MP who witnessed the exchange said Mr Morris's intervention was a "precision bombing exercise" commissioned by Mr Smith in order to "shout Corbyn down and put him off his stride".

Mr Morris, who is parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to James Brokenshire, the Northern Ireland Secretary, denied the claim, telling this newspaper that the chief whip "was just passing pleasantries".