Ben Stokes refused to return Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s gushing tribute, quickly taking himself out of shot on Tuesday’s edition of Good Morning Britain.
Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid were interviewing the England cricketing icon as his team continue their tour of India.
Morgan’s infamously hostile style was absent as he conducted a light-hearted chat with the 2019 BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
But as that chat finished, the show had a quick change of pace, with under-fire Hancock set to face the music.
The Health Secretary has recently been judged by a High Court, to have acted unlawfully in the way that Covid-19 contracts were handed out at the start of the pandemic.
And as Stokes’ interview ended, the camera moved to a smirking Mr Hancock, who heaped praise on the Durham-born star.
"It is great to see Ben Stokes. You should have run that interview longer and what a great man,” he said.
Piers swiftly replied: "Trust me, I wanted to," which had Mr Hancock laughing before Susanna interjected: "But we're not going to let you off the hook Matt Hancock."
"I wanted to run it for another 10 minutes and just bounce you off but anyway, here you are," Piers added.
As Hancock was about to face his first question, the camera flashed back to Stokes who was sat, looking embarrassed.
Piers asked if he had anything to say to the health secretary, only for him to wave at the camera and swiftly leave the interview.
"He's off," Susanna said as Piers burst into laughter and added: "He doesn't want to extend the chat unfortunately."
England vice-captain Stokes is busily preparing for the third of a four-match test series against India in Ahmedabad.
The tourists won the first test comprehensively, only to be brought back to earth in the second last week.
England need to win the final two matches in order to qualify for the innaugural World Test Championship final, which is set to take place at Lord’s later this year.
