Jeremy Paxman was involved in an extraordinary on-screen bust-up with John Reid after the health secretary accused him of insulting him because of his Glasgow accent.

The row started when Paxman branded Dr Reid a Labour "attack dog" during an interview last night on BBC2's Newsnight about Labour's health plans. He told Paxman he did not like being insulted. "I have said to you before that if you have a Phd and a posh accent from a school like yours, you are regarded as a sophisticate," retorted Mr Reid.

Mr Paxman, famous for his robust style of questioning, replied: "What on earth are you talking about? Do you want to address the question or not?"

Dr Reid countered: "You called me an attack dog because I've got a Glasgow accent."

Paxman replied: "It is nothing to do with having a Glasgow accent. Who's mentioned anything about a Glasgow accent? Can we get on to the substance?"

Dr Reid replied: "Yes, if you stop insulting people."

The presenter said: "I did not intend to patronise you, but you know what your reputation is in the party and that's why you are used in that way."

Paxman has a reputation as one of television's most confrontational interviewers.

His 1997 interview with the former Conservative home secretary, now Tory leader, Michael Howard, when he asked the politician the same question 12 times, has gone down in television history.

The famous interrogation centred on the allegation that Mr Howard had overruled Derek Lewis, director general of the Prison Service, and instructed him to suspend the governor of Parkhurst prison after a mass breakout of category A prisoners.

And the chief constable of Humberside police, David Westwood, famously walked out of a Paxman grilling on the Soham murders.

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