Sir Keir Starmer remained ice cool during a Good Morning Britain debate, despite Piers Morgan's repeated attempts to rattle him.
The Labour leader spoke out on the Government's poor handling of coronavirus, saying their message had become unclear.
But when Piers asked him why he wasn't "laughing out loud in incredulity", Sir Keir had a perfect response.
He said: "The reason I don’t laugh is because I think of the 65,000 people who have died of coronavirus and their families.
"Pride is not something you would ever associate with what’s happened over the last three months.
"I think the Prime Minister has been asleep at the wheel. He’s been slow. The communication has been terrible."
Continuing his scathing attack of the Government, Sir Keir added there was a "total lack of planning" on the reopening of schools.
He said a task force should have been put together "two or three months ago" and a plan formed to utilise free public spaces such as libraries and community centres that remained shut during the pandemic.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, he said: "There was a total lack of planning by the Government.
"From the day the schools were shut, it was obvious that work needed to start get them back open again."
Sir Keir said he wrote to the Prime Minister privately about the need to plan to get children back to school but it went unanswered.
He said if organisations such as trade unions and local authorities worked together "shoulder to the wheel" then more children would be back in school now.
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Sir Keir said: "I wrote privately to the Prime Minister about it... because I care more about getting kids back to school than playing party politics on this.
"The Prime Minister didn't even reply."
