Queen's birthday: Jeremy Corbyn jokes that Elizabeth II has 'seen off' 12 PMs

Opposition leader prompts hoots of laughter across the Commons as he makes a jibe at Prime Minister's expense

Jeremy Corbyn generated a rare moment of relative harmony in Parliament, as he marked the Queen's 90th birthday with a joke at David Cameron's expense.

While delivering his eulogy to the monarch in the Commons, the Labour leader said: “In her reign, Mr Speaker, she has seen off 12 Prime Ministers."

Displaying impressive comic timing, he then paused and motioned towards the Prime Minister - prompting laughter on all sides of the House.

Mr Corbyn also used the session to jokingly suggest the Queen could be an Arsenal fan according to many of his constituents in Islington North, which is home to the Premier League club. He said they believe the monarch is “privately a Gooner” – a nickname for supporters of the football team.

Mr Corbyn recalled the monarch’s cancelled visit to Arsenal’s ground, telling the Commons: “In 2006, she was due to open the new Emirates Stadium in my constituency but had to pull out due to an injury.

“Unfortunately Mr Speaker, this is a fate that has afflicted far too many of Arsenal's squad in subsequent years…So we must congratulate her on her prescience.

“(Catherine West, Labour MP for Hornsey and Wood Green) was then the leader of Islington Council and as the Queen could not attend the opening they were invited to Buckingham Palace and she accompanied the whole squad to Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen.

“Now we know the Queen is absolutely above politics. She may be above football too but many locals harbour this quite secret view that she's actually privately a Gooner.”

The Prime Minister also came to the session equipped with a joke, saying that with Europe dominating politics, “there are some who suspect that at times I may have put her patience to the test.”