Sir Keir Starmer said he had spoken to Angela Rayner about her attack on the “scum” in the Tory government.

The Labour leader said he had a “different style” from his deputy and said again that he would not have used the language she did.

Speaking to Channel 5 News in Brighton, the Labour leader said: “I talked to Angela, yes.

“I’m not going to disclose to you our private conversation, I talk to Angela several times a day.

“I talk to Angela all the time, we have different styles Angela and I, I wouldn’t have used the words that she used.”

He told Sky News the pair had “huge agreements and disagreements” during their conversations.

Ms Rayner has resisted calls from the Tories to apologise for her diatribe against Boris Johnson and the Cabinet.

Ms Rayner has challenged Mr Johnson to sit down with her and apologise for his own “racist, homophobic and sexist” comments before she says sorry for her attack on Conservatives.

She tweeted that people “seem to be far more concerned with my choice of language” than the Prime Minister’s own past comments.

“I’m very happy to sit down with Boris. If he withdraws his comments and apologises, I’ll be very happy to apologise to him,” the Ashton-under-Lyne MP added.

She attached reports of Mr Johnson using offensive remarks such as comparing burka-wearing Muslim women with “letter boxes” and describing gay men as “tank-topped bum boys”.