Whisper it but a Labour think tank finally had an answer to White Van Gate yesterday.

The party came under heavy fire last week when a frontbencher tweeted a photograph of a house flying three England flags and with said vehicle parked outside.

The politician herself lost her job amid accusations of snobbery and sneering.

Later, Ed Miliband was ridiculed when asked what he thought when he saw a white van, for answering: "Respect."

It may have taken almost six days but Labour's Jamie Reed finally came up with a stinging riposte to Tory crowing on the issue at Prime Minister's Questions.

The MP for Cumbria said he knew exactly what his first thought was when he saw a white van.

"Whether or not it's my father or my brother driving it," he said, and then he stared at David Cameron for the longest time.

The Labour benches loved it. But, perhaps surprisingly, Tory MPs loved it too.

As Mr Reed continued to look directly at Mr Cameron, Tory backbenchers hooted at what they saw as a criticism that could apply equally to the Labour leadership.

Mr Cameron, for his part, appeared taken aback by the unspoken challenge from Mr Reed to rustle up some long-lost relative who drives a white van.

He rather weakly claimed that if Labour supported people who worked hard and wanted to get on he should cross the floor to the Conservatives.

Earlier, one of his own backbenchers had given a much more rousing defence of white van man.

An impassioned speech by Nadim Zahawi, the MP for Stratford-on-Avon, told the Commons: "When I see a white van I think of the small business owner who works long hours to put food on the family table.

"When I see the cross of St George, I think of the words of my constituent William Shakespeare - 'This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England!"

Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed the words "my constituent."

Does Mr Zahawi know something we don't?

And has anyone asked The Bard what he thinks when he sees a white van?