Kemi Badenoch has branded Foreign Secretary David Lammy 'not serious' and mocked him for his Mastermind appearance where he said Henry VII succeeded Henry VIII.
The shadow housing secretary ramped up tensions with the Labour frontbencher after he suggested climate change was a bigger threat than Vladimir Putin.
In his first major policy speech yesterday,Mr Lammy said the shifting environment was the 'most profound and universal source of global disorder' and vowed to prioritise the issue.
But the Tories accused him of a failure of leadership at a time when the UK faces significant threats.
And Ms Badenoch,one of the favourites to take over from Rishi Sunak,was blunter about his personal attributes.
Mr Lammy,who studied law at Harvard,was a celebrity guest on the BBC's Mastermind show in 2008
Mr Lammy announced a Global Clean Power Alliance of countries to focus on green energy and said he would appoint a UK special representative for climate change and nature.
He said a 'hard-headed realist' approach using diplomatic and financial levers was needed to slow rising temperatures.
Condemning the previous Conservative government as 'climate dinosaurs',he said they had relied too much on fossil fuels rather than renewables.
Mr Lammy said: 'I'm committing to you that,while I am Foreign Secretary,action on the climate and nature crisis will be central to all the Foreign Office does.'
Since taking power Labour has brought forward the ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars and the phasing out of oil and gas drilling in the North Sea.
It has also paved the way for more wind turbines,solar panels and electricity pylons to be built.
LabourKemi BadenochVladimir Putin
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