The Conservative minister who missed an interview on morning television because he overslept has been accused of attempting to "spin" the story to make it look like he was not as late as he actually was.
On Thursday skills minister Matthew Hancock admitted he arrived late for a slot on ITV's Daybreak just before 7am.
He owned up to his mistake on Twitter later in the day, acknowledging it was not good enough to be late.
However on Friday morning Daybreak presenter Matt Barbet accused Hancock of being "much more than a minute late".
"Spinning it as if he was stopped from going on-air having just missed the time slot is nonsense," he said.
"A minute after the interview starts is around 20-30 minutes later than when he should've been in the building preparing.
The spat is embarrassing for Hancock, a protege of George Osborne, as the chancellor has previously railed against "the shift-worker, leaving home in the dark hours of the early morning, who looks up at the closed blinds of their next door neighbour sleeping off a life on benefits".