The prime minister has been skewered by Labour backbencher Yvette Cooper for the second time in recent weeks.

Last month, Cooper won plaudits [1] for taking Theresa May to task over her government’s screeching Budget u-turn.

And this week, the former shadow home secretary burnished her credentials as the next Labour leader by landing another direct hit on May at Prime Minister's Questions.

She said: “The prime minister yesterday said she was calling an election because parliament was blocking Brexit. But three quarters of MPs and two thirds of the Lords voted for article 50. So that’s not true it it?

“And a month ago she told her official spokesman to rule out an early general election and that wasn’t true either, was it?

“She wants us to believe she is a woman of her word. Isn’t the truth that we can’t believe a single word she says?”

Labour MPs cheered wildly as a chastened May looked helplessly across the Chamber before finally getting the chance to respond.

She eventually said: "This House and this Parliament voted to trigger Article 50 but the Labour party made it clear that they were thinking of voting against the final deal, the Scottish Nationalists have said that they will vote against the legislation necessary to leave the EU, the Liberal Democrats say they're going to grind government to a standstill and the Lords have threatened to stop us at every step of the way...”

Earlier in the session, Jeremy Corbyn pressed May over her refusal to take part in TV debates [5], but without seriously discomforting her.

However the Labour leader did have one good line. After the prime minister boasted of her achievements, Corbyn hit back: “If she's so proud of her record, why won't she debate it?"