Piers Morgan hounds Theresa May about scones – two days after she announces Brexit date

The controversial columnist apparently failed to see the irony in probing her about baking immediately after she was asked whether the endless obsession with her shoes was sexist

Despite the fact Theresa May is currently steering Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union while simultaneously healing deep divisions in the Tory party, conversation somehow managed to find its way towards scones and shoes in her interview on Good Morning Britain.

In classic Piers Morgan fashion, the presenter appeared to fail to see the irony in proceeding to ask the Prime Minister about scones straight after his co-host Susanna Reid asked her whether she found the public's “insatiable obsession” with her shoes sexist.

It has only been two days since Ms May announced she would be triggering Article 50 by March of next year, yet the US editor-at-large for MailOnline.com somehow found time to ask her about whether she preferred hard or soft butter for scones.

Viewers quickly honed in on Morgan, accusing him of being “patronising”, “sexist” and criticising GMB for failing to prioritise more pressing questions. To put this into context, almost a quarter of the interview was dedicated to the highly topical hard-hitting issues of shoes and scones.

“Finally do you regret Prime Minister, the constant, insatiable obsession with your shoes and would you consider that it is sexist to always be asking about them?” asked Reid, apparently aware that she too might be falling into the same trap.

“Well, It's interesting that people focus on shoes, I don't think they focus on Philip Hammond's or Boris Johnson's in quite the same way,” Ms May snapped back.

“But look, hey do I regret the fact that people look at my shoes. 'Hey it gives me an excuse to go and buy new shoes’,” she tactfully added. Reid then asked her if she was wearing a good pair of shoes today.

Morgan then chipped in with a reference to baking. “Final question and it’s an important one,” he began. “You exploded a huge argument at the weekend about scone-gate, you revealed the recipe that your mother had given you to make scones and the debate was raging because you didn’t seem to discriminate between the use of butter or margarine.”

“I need to know from you because I know you’re a big fan of Bake Off, is it better to have butter and if it is better to have butter are we talking hard butter or soft butter?”

Ms May then cordially gave him the lowdown of her recipe, explaining that it was easier to use hard butter but also explaining that she tended to no longer make scones because of her diabetes. To be clear, the reference to scones wasn't completely random - May revealed her grandmother's scone recipe in an interview at the weekend.

Viewers rebuked the line of questioning. “GMB asks T May if it's sexist to focus on her shoes as she's a woman and then they ask her a question about baking and scones…,” said one Twitter user.

“@piersmorgan @GMB with all the problems of this country, you spend more time on PM shoes & scones....BBC breakfast for me. Bye,” added another.

“Are you joking me @GMB asking @theresa_may about butter and scones?! 'Av a day off - would you have asked Cameron about that? #everdaysexism”

"Biased and sexist much @GMB," added another.

Morgan also asked Ms May who she would be supporting in the forthcoming US presidential elections but she declined to answer. “Well Piers actually there's a tradition here in the UK that we don’t support a particular candidate in the presidential election,” she said. “Who wins the American presidential election is entirely a matter for the American people.”

Morgan told The Independent: "Theresa May publicly revealed her scones recipe two days ago to the Sunday Times.

"I therefore asked her about her scones recipe as it was drawing some amusing debate about whether to use butter or margarine. This apparently now makes me a ‘sexist’. Or, it makes those accusing me of being a sexist…utter morons."

A GMB spokesperson told The Independent: “Piers and Susanna's lengthy interview with the Prime Minister this morning covered a range of serious topics which included Brexit, migration, trade and the USA Presidential Elections.

“As it was the first opportunity for GMB viewers to see the new PM on the programme, she was also asked a few light hearted questions towards the very end of the interview to reveal a bit of her personality.”