Good Morning Britain's Susanna Reid was caught in a fiery clash with a Tory MP live on the ITV show today.
Conservative MP Grant Shapps - the Transport Secretary - appeared on the programme to discuss the new photo, which saw Mr Johnson raising a glass with a number of people. Bottles of alcohol were also seen on a table nearby.
In the chat, Mr Shapps claimed that a small detail in the background of a new photo of Boris Johnson drinking with colleagues proves he was working and not partying at the time. He had said that the ministerial boxes could be seen in the back of the photo and that there was no way Mr Johnson would bring them to a party, and thus it was a work event.
"One of the things I will say is that in the photograph, in the background there you'll notice his ministerial boxes, the red boxes which have work in them," he said as he tried to defend Mr Johnson.
However, later on, he was involved in a fiery clash with Susanna over the comments he had made.
He said: "The thing for the prime minister is that this is a building in which, uniquely for a government, he both lives and works in."
"So there were parties going on all the time in Downing Street during coronavirus legislation, which meant that the Prime Minister couldn't tell which was a work gathering and which was a party.
"Because it was happening so often he simply couldn't tell which was which? That's what you're saying Mr Shapps."
Many viewers took actions with the words Mr Shapps chose.
"Shapps admits picture shows a ‘gathering’ but not a party. We’re getting into semantics now in defending the indefensible," one wrote, as a second added: "I'm going to have one hell of a gathering on my birthday this year, no party though. #gmb."
Another penned: "That awkward moment when Tory HQ tell you to defend Boris at all costs even if it means that you destroy your own integrity. #Partygate #GMB."
It comes after a previous interview on GMB with Brandon Lewis, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, saw the MP claim that Boris' Partygate fine was like speeding as he attempted to defend him.
"We've seen over the years, sadly, that ministers from both Conservative and Labour governments have penalty notices, whether that's speeding offences or traffic offences," he said.
"That's not the same, I appreciate, as the sacrifices some have made through Covid but we have seen that happen over the years. People have to accept that. If you get something wrong, you have to accept that and learn from that and move forward."
