British Environment Secretary Michael Gove | Jack Taylor/Getty Images Michael Gove: Labour’s Brexit position is ‘bollocks’ UK environment secretary mocks opposition’s position on leaving the European Union.

Michael Gove criticized "the testicular nature" of Labour's Brexit policy in the British parliament Thursday.

The U.K. environment secretary picked up on reports that Shadow International Trade Secretary Barry Gardiner used the word "bollocks" to describe his own party's position on leaving the European Union.

Speaking about Labour's six tests for judging an EU exit, Gove said Gardiner used a "pithy" word to describe them, "which in Spanish translates as cojones and in English rhymes with rollocks.

"Now I know, Mr. Speaker, that there are some distinguished citizens in this country who have put on their cars a poster or sticker saying 'Bollocks to Brexit,' but we now know from Labour's own frontbench that their official Brexit position is bollocks."

That was a reference to the speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, who on Wednesday told MPs that despite media reports, a "Bollocks to Brexit" sticker is on his wife's car, not his own. Bercow told Tory MP Adam Holloway: “I’m sure the honorable gentleman wouldn’t suggest for one moment that a wife is somehow the property or chattel of her husband. She is entitled to her views. That sticker is not mine. That’s the end of it.”

Gove continued his attack on Gardiner and the Labour leadership. "It is not the role of the government to intervene in how the government disposes of its positions, but I have to say that the shadow international trade secretary is a jewel and an ornament to the Labour frontbench ... We're grateful to the 'Constant Gardiner' for the way in which he has cast light on the testicular nature of Labour's position."

Bercow said he "richly enjoyed" Gove's observations, "which I feel sure he must have been practicing in front of the mirror for some significant number of hours."

He added there "was nothing disorderly about the use of the word" bollocks in parliament. "I think it is simply a matter of taste."