The BBC's Nick Robinson got into a slanging match with Boris Johnson as the Prime Minister made his first appearance on the Today programme for two years - with the presenter at one point telling him: 'Stop talking!'.
The interview at the Conservative conference in Manchester immediately got off to a tense start, with Mr Robinson pointedly saying how long it had been since Mr Johnson was last on the show, prompting him to cheekily reply 'has it really been that long?'
During the interview, Mr Johnson was interrupted during a long-winded answer on the supply chain crisis by Mr Robinson, who told him: 'Prime Minister, you are going to pause. Prime Minister, stop talking, we are going to have questions and answers, not where you merely talk, if you wouldn't mind.'
Boris Johnson and Nick Robinson (both seen at the Tory conference today) got into a heated exchange on the Today programme
The PM replied, 'I'm very happy to stop talking,' before Mr Robinson asked him another question about business taxation.
The intervention clearly irritated Mr Johnson, who said he wanted to 'get back to the point I was trying to make when you asked me to stop talking, an injunction you seem to have revoked'.
After a series of other irritable exchanges, Mr Robinson ended the interview with another loaded comment, telling him: 'Thank you for talking to the Today programme and allowing the occasional question as well.'
The politician hit back: 'It's very kind of you to let me talk ... I thought that was the point of inviting me on your show.'
Tory MPs complained about how Mr Johnson had been treated, with John Redwood tweeting: 'When the PM had a good answer to a question, the BBC Today programme tried to stop him, asking a different question.
'BBC interviewers should allow an answer and pretend to be interested in the person they are interviewing. They seem to want to impose their view instead.'
Andrew Murrison, MP for South West Wiltshire, dismissed Mr Robinson's approach as 'slapstick'.
He said: 'Trademark BBC rudeness coarsens political debate. Rarely gets ''gotcha moment'' its overpaid pundits are after.'
Not long after the PM had left the studio Mr Robinson - the BBC's former political editor - sought to answer criticisms he had been rude.
He said: 'For those listeners who may have been slightly offended by me telling the prime
