Besieged prime minister Tony Abbott has interrupted an anecdote from radio host Ray Hadley to suggest a new phrase for making a poor decision: “Doing an Abbott”.

His comment came in the middle of an anecdote from Mr Hadley, who was attempting to tell the PM that his friends and colleagues had begun labelling their poor decisions “captain’s calls”, in reference to unpopular non-consultative decisions by Mr Abbott.

Social media went into overdrive following the interview, with political watchers unable to resist the temptation to subject the PM to parody.

• Open warfare: Liberal MPs rally against Abbott
• Tony Abbott: what he said, what it really meant

It is the second day in a row a comment from the prime minister has become an instant hit.

On Tuesday he was widely mocked for declaring it was “back to work Tuesday” for the government.

The comment prompted tongue-in-cheek questions such as “If it’s ‘back to work Tuesday’, do I get paid penalty rates for working yesterday?” and “What does Tony Abbott do on Mondays?”.

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I have a feeling the expression “Doing an Abbott” will live on in Australian political commentary for quite some time… #auspol #libspill

— Escalator to Nowhere (@escalator2nowhr) February 3, 2015

If Doing an Abbott is not consulting your colleagues, is Doing a Rudd swearing at them? — Judith Ireland (@CanberraCamper) February 3, 2015

I think the doing an Abbott line from the PM was actually good. V Australian to take the laugh at yourself #auspol

— PatriciaKarvelas (@PatsKarvelas) February 3, 2015

The joke comes after a horror start to the year for the PM, who is in a fight for his political life as Liberal MPs publicly question his leadership.

Party faithful across the country have been turning on the PM since Saturday’s Queensland election, which saw a massive swing against the incumbent Liberal National Party.

Former Victorian Liberal Premier Jeff Kennett is the latest to join the chorus of criticism, saying Abbott’s leadership of the federal party is “terminal”.

On Wednesday, Mr Abbott called on critics on his own backbench to “stop the navel gazing and get on with the job of governing”.

Twitter. I present – Doing an Abbott Wednesday. — Latika Bourke (@latikambourke) February 3, 2015

Stephen Bradbury is reportedly very concerned that “doing an Abbott” will become a more popular term than “doing a Bradbury” #itson

— tom carey. (@tomcarey1) February 3, 2015