Phillip Schofield raised eyebrows during Tuesday morningโs edition of This Morning, with a question to Matt Hancock about the former health secretaryโs breach of social distancing guidelines earlier this year.
During the live broadcast, Phil and his co-host Holly Willoughby interviewed the MP about his calls for children to be screened for dyslexia โ a condition Hancock was diagnosed with during his time at university โ before they start secondary school.
However, the presenter couldnโt resist a dig at the scandal Hancock found himself in over the summer, when he was pictured kissing an aide in his office, breaking social distancing measures in the process.
Putting the former cabinet minister on the spot, Phil questioned: โWas it your dyslexia that meant you misread the social distancing rules?โ
โNo, I canโt blame that on dyslexia or anything else,โ Hancock stated. โIn fact, I am not asking for any special favours because I am dyslexic.
โIn politics I have got some things to offer. In that case, that was a mistake and I have apologised for it.โ
He added: โIt was a failure of leadership because I came on shows like this and asked people to do things and I didnโt follow the those rules myself.โ
When asked whether he thought his successor Sajid Javid was doing a better job than him, Hancock said: โWho knows? Because thereโs so many uncertainties and new things hitting us like the new Omicron variant, but I think heโs doing a great job.
โBut, you know, in those jobs, the pressures are big but thatโs no excuse. It was a failure of leadership on my part and Iโve apologised for that.โ
Phillipโs comment proved divisive on social media, with some praising the daytime host for grilling Hancock about the incident, while others suggested he was making light of the learning difficulty:
HuffPost UK has contacted ITV for comment.
Matt Hancock resigned from his position as health secretary in June, after photos of him kissing his aide were published in the media.
He said in a video posted on his Twitter account at the time: โI understand the enormous sacrifices that everybody in this country has made โ that you have made.
โAnd those of us who make these rules have got to stick by them, and thatโs why Iโve got to resign.โ
This Morning airs every weekday from 10am on ITV.