British Prime Minister David Cameron took a swipe at Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn over his Christmas holiday to Malta, during the Prime Minister’s Question time in Parliament yesterday.

In a heated parliamentary exchange on the recent floods that swamped parts of Northern England over Christmas, Cameron chided the Labour leader for holidaying in Malta at the time.

Facing stiff Labour criticism over the government’s flood relief efforts, Cameron quipped: "So have lessons been learnt? Yes they have. Are there more lessons to learn? There always are.

“But frankly we don't need a lecture from Malta from the honourable gentleman.”

Cameron hit two birds with one stone: he chastised the Labour leader for being abroad at a time of crisis, and he drove home the point that Corbyn had been in clement Malta while the UK was being battered by storms.

Cameron’s swipe could also have been inspired by his trip to Malta in November when, during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, he had told an incredulous Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his wife Michelle that he had gone for an early morning swim…in the sea.

Corbyn had arrived in Malta on 23 December for a private visit after flying in on a low-cost EasyJet flight and reportedly stayed at the Preluna Hotel in Sliema.