The new leader of UKIP Richard Braine has hit back at George Osborne after the former Chancellor mocked his name.
Mr Osborne tweeted after Mr Braine won the leadership race: “The new leader of Ukip is called Mr Dick Braine – really.”
Mr Braine said yesterday: “I’m getting a bit fed up with all this dickbraine stuff.”
The anti-EU party chief replied to Mr Osborne, now the editor of the London Evening Standard, who changed his name from Gideon when he was a teenager.
The Ukip leader said: “It’s time to change my name to stop the bullying. Are my prospects better if I change my christian name to Gideon or George?"
He also tweeted a link to the Johnny Cash song "A Boy Named Sue" all about a man who named his son Sue to toughen him up.
Mr Braine posted the clip alongside the comment "Some of us live with our given name, others are too wet, aren't they Gideon?"
The new leader, who took over from Gerard Batten with more than 53% of members' votes, was widely mocked on social media for his name.
Liz McInnes, the Labour MP, said: “I see that Ukip, in their perpetual leadership contest that is rivalled only by the DFS sale in its longevity, have now elected a triumph of nominative determinism, a Mr Dick Braine.”
Her party colleague, David Lammy , tweeted: “I wish I could laugh at the fact that this man is literally called Dick Braine. But I can’t, because I know it will only mask the seriousness of his dangerous and vile Islamophobia. His predecessors would be proud.”
Mr Braine had earlier said he “often” confused Sadiq Khan , the London mayor, with the leader of the 7/7 terror attackers. His tweet was condemned by Labour as “unacceptable racism”.
The Ukip leader also told Sky News the UK should “look into” banning the distribution of the Quran.
Gerard Batten stood down after the party was wiped out in May’s European elections by Nigel Farage’s new Brexit Party.
