Susanna Reid called out a Good Morning Britain guest on the ITV show on Thursday, as they discussed reports that No 10 had broken Covid lockdown rules last year while the country was under restrictions before Christmas.
The Prime Minister Boris Johnson claimed that no rules were broken, but did not issue a denial when he was grilled over the Mirror's exclusive report in the Commons.
The Mirror revealed that the PM gave a speech at a packed leaving do for a top aide last November at the height of the second lockdown.
And days before Christmas, members of his team held a festive party in Downing Street - with London under Tier 3 restrictions.
While Johnson has failed to deny the gatherings went ahead, GMB host Susanna and her co-host Ben Shephard shared the "upset" many of the public would be feeling after hearing the news.
Ben read out a tweet from one viewer who sadly lost their father in January this year, and was unable to see him for weeks prior after he was admitted to hospital.
Yet, reportedly, while the restrictions in place meant the public could not see loved ones or friends, including those in hospital, No 10 staff were apparently breaking the rules with social gatherings.
Critic and political sketch writer Quentin Letts appeared on GMB on Thursday, and discussed the reports with the show.
But Quentin soon confessed to breaking Covid rules himself last year, before he suggested "lots" of people were doing it because they'd "had enough".
Susanna hit back at this claim though, reminding him that not only did many people follow the rules, even those who were alone and those with loved ones in hospital, but also many of those who did break rules were fined or punished.
Quentin had said: "Quite a lot of us were disobeying the rules last year as well, a lot of people were."
Susanna said back: "Hang on Quentin, you can proudly say you were breaking the rules," to which he said: "Yeah," with Susanna continuing: "There were people breaking the rules and being fined and scrutinised for it."
As Quentin called this "monstrous", she went on: "For them or for people who could not go and see people who were sick in hospital, who could not be with their families at Christmas, for somebody to say well I was breaking the rules it was all fine, and for that person to be in No 10 is outrageous."
The show guest repeated: "No I think lots of people were. Lots of us were. I think many people were and I think it's been happening all along.
"I think people have just had enough. I follow what I feel to be common sense."
Susanna responded: "But Quentin, you’re playing into this idea that it's one rule for those people who know they can get away with it, and we demonise people who can't get away with it."
Quentin said that he was saying the opposite, adding he believed politicians were "pushing it too far" and had "lost sight" that the public have given up.
Susanna then brought it back to last year, saying: "We're not talking about now, we're talking about a year ago. We didn't have the level of vaccination that we had.
"We had people dying every single day in hundreds, we were trying to stop this virus killing people and the Prime Minister and No 10 think it's alright to have gatherings."
Quentin repeated that it "wasn't just" the government who was breaking the rules, saying "it's everyone".
Susanna then said: "I think we need to make a distinction between this year where rules on social gatherings don’t exist, currently we can still have Christmas parties, and last year when we didn't have the same level of vaccination.
"We were all told do not do it, you absolutely must not have social contact, that at one point there was a party being held there in lockdown at No 10, and on another we were in a tier system which meant you could not gather socially.
"That meant that people could not be with their families and friends, to the enormous detriment of people's mental health and personal relationships, and people would have lost loved ones in that time. Those were the rules at that time."
Quentin replied: "Now I am being told off by you, it's like being in the House of Commons."
Susanna admitted: "Yes I… because actually there’s been enormous consent for these rules, but when you start to muddy the waters and say well it's alright, nobody was following them, actually most people were following them at the time.
"When people look at the Prime Minister and No 10 and think you introduced rules that meant all of that happened, and you didn't stick to them yourselves, that is what is upsetting."
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.
