Boris Johnson has accused Labour of “political game-playing” over the Grenfell Tower tragedy – after footage emerged of him telling a fire cuts critic to “get stuffed” while he was London mayor.

The Foreign Secretary launched a fierce attack on Labour on his Facebook page, accusing the party of “outrageous politicking” following the inferno that left at least 30 dead and dozens more injured.

The former London mayor said fires were down 50% while he was in charge of the capital city’s public services.

But it comes after footage from 2013 resurfaced online in which Mr Johnson was challenged over cuts to the London Fire Brigade.

Labour’s London Assembly member Andrew Dinsmore asked him: “How can cutting fire stations, cutting fire engines, cutting firefighters posts not be a reduction in fire coverage?”

Mr Dinsmore pressed on, telling him: “You’ve lied to the people of London in your election.”

Mr Johnson then replied: “Oh, get stuffed.”

And Sadiq Khan, who replaced Mr Johnson as London mayor last year, today wrote to the Prime Minister demanding answers about the tragedy.

He said: “People are terrified that the same thing could happen to them.”

Today Mr Johnson hit back at his critics, writing on Facebook: “There has sadly been some political game-playing about the terrible fire in London.

“I find it unbelievable that Labour are suggesting that this tragedy was somehow caused by fire service cuts.

“The fire brigade was there astonishingly quickly and performed with great bravery. As for the record, fires in London went down 50% in my mayoralty.”Fire deaths down year after year. London has fastest appliance response times in the country.