“You’ve all seen it by now, I hope. But, in case you missed it, go now to YouTube and find Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard delivering all that has ever been meant by the word ‘smackdown’ to leader of the opposition Tony Abbott. Go on – it’ll be the best 15 minutes of your day.

For those of you who work in open-plan offices, let me fill you in. The speaker of the House of Representatives, Peter Slipper, had recently been sex-textually disgraced and, although Gillard and her party supported him, resigned. Abbott then accused Gillard of sexism, misogyny and hypocrisy. She rose and began to speak – slowly, clearly and with a fierce passion.

‘I will not be lectured on sexism or misogyny by this man and his party,’ she began. ‘Not now, not ever.’ She went on to provide listeners – of which there were soon millions as the video went viral – with a selection of Abbott’s choicest utterances and deeds, such as referring to ‘the housewives of Australia doing their ironing’, calling abortion ‘the easy way out’ and referring to Gillard as a man’s bitch, before condemning his party’s conduct as ‘vile’ and him as a man ‘capable of double standards but incapable of change’ and sitting down to a huge round of applause from her party, which you suspect was being furiously echoed internally among the women of the opposition too.

Everything about the speech is brilliant. The content is dense, punchy, powerfully and vividly articulated and her performance is flawless – her timing and the delivery of each verbal blow is perfect. She says exactly what she means and means every word she says.

Lucy Mangan on defining misogyny