Cameron attacks 'phoney' Brown's claims of recovery from recession

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The Tory leader triggered uproar in the Commons and was forced by the Speaker to formally withdraw his remarks. But he insisted the unemployment figures undermined Mr Brown's claim that Britain was "better placed" than other countries to withstand the recession.

Lord Mandelson was also embroiled in a fresh row over job centre closures in London. The Business Secretary said today that "no job centres are being closed down", despite the Employment Minister confirming that three are being axed in Brixton, Feltham and Orpington.

Speaking at Prime Minister's Question Time today, Mr Brown expressed "personal regret" for every person who loses their job. "Any person who loses their job or fears losing their job - this is a matter of personal regret for me and for the whole Government," he said. "I don't regard unemployment as a statistic. I regard it as one person, a second person, a third person, who needs our help."

Mr Brown claimed he was putting £1.3 billion into job centres and said unemployment is higher in France, Germany, Japan and America, although he admitted that was "little comfort" to those in Britain.

But Mr Cameron said: "What a complete phoney!" and joked that City minister Lord Myners should now be negotiating retirement deals for government ministers.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Theresa May said Lord Mandelson was "in denial" about the state of the crisis after he lashed out at his critics for "praying for bad news". In a televised outburst on Sky News, the peer attacked the Tories and media for "talking down" the country's economy.

Weeks after fellow minister Baroness Vadera was ridiculed for claiming there were "green shoots" of recovery, Lord Mandelson called for more focus on "the good things that are happening in the economy".

"I think this searching for cheap headlines by opposition politicians, this constant desire to talk everything and everyone down, sometimes you feel they are praying for bad economic news because they think it will help them politically," he said.