Nick Clegg responds to Boris Johnson's condom jibe: 'Focus on the day job'

Nick Clegg said he wasn't expecting the insult on his 47th birthday

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has responded to London Mayor Boris Johnson who implied he was the Prime Minister's condom (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has told London Mayor Boris Johnson to focus on fixing London's housing crisis and transport system rather than insulting him.

His words come after Mr Johnson referred to Mr Clegg on his Ask Boris LBC 97.3 show on Tuesday as Prime Minister David Cameron’s “lapdog-cum-prophlyactic-protection-device”.

In Nick Clegg’s Call Clegg show on the station, he said: “I do think that without sounding too pious we have all got quite important jobs to get on with and I think most Londoners listening to this would expect Boris Johnson to focus on the day job of sorting out our transport system, our housing crisis in London, rather than ever more exotic ways of describing his political opponents.”

The Liberal Democrat Leader also said that the jibe was not what he was expecting on his 47th birthday.

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The Mayor made the remark in response to Mr Clegg’s criticism of Chancellor George Osborne’s latest plans to slash the welfare budget by a further £12 billion.

He said: "He's there to serve a very important ceremonial function as David Cameron's lapdog-cum-prophylactic protection device for all the difficult things that David Cameron has to do."

When asked what he meant, Johnson said that the Deputy Prime Minister was “a kind of shield” like “a lapdog who’s been skinned and turned into a shield to protect”.

In a previous spat Mr Clegg named the London Mayor “slacker Johnson” on-air.

In the past Mr Johnson has called the Liberal Democrat the Prime Minister’s "cup-bearer and coat-holder" and a "wobbling jelly of indecision and vacillation".

Mr Clegg also said that if he ever went for a drink with the Mayor, he would “probably pour the drink over his blonde mop”.