A top Tory appears to have met her match after she tried to turn the tables on Kay Burley in a row over "law-breaking" Matt Hancock.
Tory chair Amanda Milling was slapped down for shifting focus onto the Sky News host - as she refused to say if the former Health Secretary will be investigated.
Mr Hancock resigned after he broke Covid rules by snogging aide Gina Coladangelo on May 6, while indoor gatherings between different bubbles were still illegal.
Labour want an investigation into how Ms Coladangelo got her £15,000-a-year job on the Department of Health board. No10 claim all rules were followed despite Mr Hancock appointing her "directly".
But Ms Milling refused to say whether there will be an investigation - and tried to shift the focus onto her interrogator.
Told repeatedly "he broke the law!", she replied: "People have made mistakes, as you know Kay, in terms of the rules, during the course of the last 12 months - as you know yourself."
But unlike Ms Burley, Mr Hancock made the decision to step back entirely of his own choice despite being backed to the hilt by Downing Street.
In a tense clash, Kay Burley hit back: "You've made the point twice. As you know, I was sanctioned, I was off air for six months.
"I don’t make policy. You do. And he certainly did at the time.
"Does he have to face any comeback as a result of breaking the law during a global pandemic and snogging with his aide?"
The 60-year-old TV star was suspended in December 2020 for breaking lockdown rules when celebrating her milestone birthday with friends.
She threw a birthday dinner that saw ten people in attendance. She then briefly popped into another restaurant to use the toilet before getting a taxi home.
Following the ordeal, she wrote "I made a big mistake, and I am sorry," adding: "I have today agreed with Sky News to step back from my broadcasting role for a period of reflection.
"It's clear to me that we are all in the fight against Covid-19 and that we all have a duty to stick firmly by the rules."
In a brutal interview, Ms Milling admitted Mr Hancock had been coming up on the doorstep in the Batley and Spen by-election - which Labour won by 323 votes.
Asked if it was the 'Hancock effect', she replied: "There's a whole load of issues that affected our campaign, there's lots of issues that come up on the doorstep." But she later admitted: "I’ll be honest with you; the issue with Matt did come up on the doorstep."
Yet she repeatedly refused to say if Mr Hancock broke the law, would be investigated, or would be barred from returning as a minister in a year's time.
“The matter of who is appointed to ministerial positions is a matter for the Prime Minister. [He did] the right thing by resigning," she said.
She added: "He did the wrong thing. He recognises that and he resigned and that was the right thing for him to do."
Asked if he will be investigated, she replied simply: "Matt has resigned."
