Top Tory mauls Brown with poetry

Shadow Commons leader Theresa May's offering accuses the prime minister of "rants" bringing staff "to tears".

It also suggests Mr Brown's new chief political adviser, Stephen Carter, is driving out other Downing Street staff.

For the government, Commons leader Harriet Harman dismissed the poem as a mere "version of comedy".

Ode of opposition

Ms May, MP for Maidenhead, had asked several questions on subjects such as post-legislative scrutiny and figures on climate change, when suddenly she burst into verse.

Her poem went: "At Downing Street the other day, I met a man sent on his way.

"Close to Gordon for many years, the PM's rants brought him to tears.

"But for all this he didn't care. He was pleased to see his minister there.

"He'd been important once, you know. Now Carter told him: 'You must go.'"

A distinctly unimpressed Ms Harman, MP for Camberwell and Peckham, replied: "I don't know about her constituents, but mine are more interested in sound management than soundbites.

"They would rather have competence than her version of comedy."

Ms May said she had been inspired to poetry by a Commons dispute on Wednesday, in which Business Secretary John Hutton was accused of being the author of a rhyme critical of the prime minister.

In the chamber, his Tory shadow Alan Duncan teased that he must have been the author of the words: "At Downing Street upon the stair, I met a man who wasn't Blair.

"He wasn't Blair again today, oh how I wish he'd go away."

But an embarrassed Mr Hutton denied this, adding: "I would write better poetry than that."