Ed Balls has mocked David Cameron for awkwardly changing into his beach shorts under a "surprisingly small towel" for a Prime Minister.

The shadow chancellor was met with cries of "no" after asking the Labour Party conference if anyone felt sorry for Mr Cameron when he was pictured putting his shorts on at a Cornwall beach last month under a Mickey Mouse towel.

Mr Balls drew more laughs when he said his wife, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper, remarked that the PM looked slim for a 46-year-old, leading the shadow chancellor to question who she was comparing him to.

He said that after three years in Government, the sooner Mr Cameron throws in the towel the better.

Mr Balls joked during his speech at the Brighton conference: "Didn't you feel a little sorry for our Prime Minister this summer? Didn't you?

"Back in August, on the beach, changing into his swimming trunks, behind that Mickey Mouse towel, captured on cameras, unflattering pictures spread across the national press.

"I've been there, I know what it's like.

"Let me let you into a little secret. When Yvette saw the pictures she said, rather pointedly I thought, she said that for a 46-year old man David Cameron looked rather slim.

"Slim? Who on Earth can she have been comparing him to?

"I just thought for a Prime Minister it was a surprisingly small towel.

"Let us all agree after the last three years the sooner David Cameron throws in the towel the better."