A WAR of words has broken out between Peter Kay and Liam Gallagher after the comedian insulted the Mancunian singer at Tuesday’s Brit Awards.

Gallagher collected the award for Best Album of the Past 30 Years at the ceremony, for the Oasis album (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?

He thanked the former members of his band, who split last August, but pointedly left his brother Noel out of his speech. He also swore and hurled a microphone as he accepted the award. After he left the stage, Kay mocked him for his surly attitude. The insult prompted the biggest laugh of the evening.

Within a few hours it had become a new catchphrase, and was widely reported yesterday.

Gallagher responded through the social networking site Twitter, calling Kay “fat” and saying that as a proper Northerner he would have said the insult to his face. He finished by sarcastically quoting the song Live Forever from Oasis’ first album Definitely Maybe.

However, other Twitter users seem to be siding with Kay, calling Liam a “moron” and Kay’s comment “a classic”.

A Facebook group set up in appreciation of Kay's remark has gathered more than 98,000 fans.