Alastair Campbell was involved in a fiery clash with mental health minister Nadine Dorries on his Good Morning Britain debut.
Alastair was quick to grill Ms Dorries on why no one had appeared at a government press briefing to speak about mental health specifically despite Boris Johnson promising there would be.
He said: "That was in March when he promised that and that has never happened, mental health has not been a priority."
Ms Dorries said that there had been £500m announced in the spending review for the covid recovery plan that's been put into place, on top of additional funding.
Ms Dorries said: "Mental health has been a priority we know the two groups that have been affected they are those with a pre-existing mental illness and other groups such as young women aged 15-26 and those with eating disorders."
But Alastair hit back and said: "Are those figures born out? It sounds like you might be re-announcing money."
Ms Dorries said that wasn't the case and that the government were trying to get mental health help into schools to stop problems developing in later life, which was possible because there were lots more people wanting to work in mental health.
She also said the government were trying to create virtual resources that teenagers could access through their phone.
Alastair took issue with that comment and said: "You'll never replace face to face contact, people will always need that."
Susanna Reid also pointed to the fact that only 20% of children identified with a mental health issue were being treated within four weeks and said: "Only one in five get that treatment within a month, they need that help urgently."
Ms Dorries said the government were working on waiting times and that the issue was a priority.
*GMB continues at 6am on ITV tomorrow
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