Angela Rayner has hit back after "dim-witted" Dominic Raab accused her of "champagne socialism" for going to the opera during the rail strikes.
The Deputy Prime Minister, who winked at the Labour frontbencher in the Commons, was accused of sexism and snobbery after he attacked Ms Rayner over her visit to East Sussex's Glyndebourne opera house.
The wink came during a testy Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons, when the two leading figures clashed over rail strikes, the economy and the Tories losing two by-elections last week.
Speaking after the session, Ms Rayner said: "My advice to the Deputy Prime Minister is to cut out the snobbery and brush up on his opera.
"The Marriage of Figaro is the story of a working-class woman who gets the better of a privileged but dim-witted villain."
The Justice Secretary was also slapped down by Boris Johnson, whose deputy spokesman told reporters: “Everybody should be able to enjoy arts and culture and other such things across the UK.”
The Labour frontbencher had been taking Mr Raab to task over his past comments that people who use food banks “simply have a cash flow problem”, adding: “He doesn’t. He spent over a million pound in nine months on private jets, it shows how out of touch this Government is.
“At this rate, by 2030 a million more people will be using food banks. How many more working people will be pushed into poverty by his Prime Minister before he says enough is enough?”
The Deputy Prime Minister replied: “If the Labour Party, if she wants to help working people, they should be clear in standing up against these militant, reckless strikes.”
He accused Ms Rayner of having “flip-flopped” in her position on the strikes, then before winking at Labour's deputy leader, went on: “She talks about working people. Where was she when the comrades were on the picket line last Thursday? Where was she when the Labour frontbench were joining them rather than standing up for the public?
“She was at the Glyndebourne music festival sipping champagne, listening to opera. Champagne socialism is back in the Labour Party.”
The Best for Britain campaign hit out at the wink on Twitter, saying: "The most disturbing, sexist part of today's #PMQs. First Dominic Raab WINKS at @AngelaRayner. Then he intimates it's absurd for a working class woman to enjoy opera and drink champagne."
Labour MP Toby Perkins reacted to the strange gesture, tweeting: "I will never unsee Dominic Raab ’s wink from the despatch box at Angela Rayner.
"I feel soiled."
Ms Rayner replied on Twitter: "Imagine how I feel!"
John Nicolson, SNP MP, added: "Did I just see Dominic Raab wink at Angela Rayner mid answer? Bizarre."
The Deputy Leader hit back at the deputy PM, however, by underlining Boris Johnson's lack of authority.
The Prime Minister is at a NATO summit in the wake of losing both Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton by-elections to Labour and the Lib Dems respectively.
Earlier this month, the PM narrowly survived a motion of no confidence, when 148 of his own backbenchers voted to oust him.
Ms Rayner said: “I’ll tell them a few things about militancy, it’s this Government that are acting in a militant way.
“While they should have been at the negotiating table, they were at the banqueting table getting hundreds of thousands squeezed out of their donors instead of dealing with the crisis … When they were asked about the absent Prime Minister’s plans to stick around until 2030, one (MP) opposite said he’d lost the plot.”
