Esther McVey has put her feud with Lorraine Kelly feud down to professional jealousy.
The pair have become embroiled in a pubic spat after Kelly, 59, appeared to snub the Tory leadership hopeful in a cringe TV segment this week.
McVey, 51, later said Kelly’s cold reaction to her stemmed from their GMTV days when she was “promoted to be partnering with Eamonn Holmes” above the Scottish star.
The explanation was later scoffed at by fellow GMTV star Fiona Phillips, who insisted McVey's story didn't add up.
The politician was back in the spotlight for a phone-in on LBC last night and she got quizzed over the matter by Iain Dale.
She started off by insisting she was baffled by Kelly's apparent dislike of her before admitting her political career could have made the telly star jealous.
Dale asked her: "What on earth did you do to Lorraine Kelly?" and McVey replied: "I don’t know! I had a very fun time at GMTV."
When pressed about why Kelly "can't stand" her, she added: "Who knows...
"Well let me see. Well I’ve gone off into politics and, you know, maybe she wants to go off into politics. Who knows?"
Dale then pressed her on the "jealousy" issue and she added: "Oh look, I don’t want to get into that. I have happy memories of TV."
Kelly has previously said she is “baffled” by McVey’s claim that she was promoted above her on GMTV.
The Scottish star also revealed she strongly disagrees McVey's politics on LGBT rights.
During a chat with Piers Morgan, she said: “No, there is no battle. I’m baffled by that though because I had my own show from 1992 and I don’t actually think she joined until five years later.”
When asked if she approves of McVey’s politics, she said: “Yesterday, Piers, I will be honest with you, I just got sick to the back teeth of the whole toxic political atmosphere.
"I strongly disagree with her on LGBT rights and I just felt like I’ve had enough of this, we’ve had two-and-a-half years of going round in circles over Brexit and now we’ve got people at each other’s throats and its got to stop.”
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