Dominic Raab today revealed that his experience of Peppa Pig World was rather less joyful than that of the the PM.
Boris Johnson gave a glowing review of the New Forest theme park - which he visited with wife Carrie and son Wilf on Sunday - in a bizarre speech to the CBI earlier this week.
Asked on a round of interviews this morning whether he had been to the attraction with his own family, Mr Raab said: 'I have. With my boys, they loved it. They are a bit older now.'
Pressed for his personal opinion he told Sky News: 'It’s a day of my life I won’t get back.'
Told that the premier had seemed to enjoy it rather more, he caveated: 'When they are that age it’s quite fun.'
The comments came as Mr Raab batted away criticism of Mr Johnson's performance at the CBI, saying the premier is 'ebullient and tiggerish' and on 'great form'.
'I know what the PM is like,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. 'He wanted to make that point about the optimism that defines this country.'
Mr Raab said Mr Johnson does not 'stick to the script' like other politicians in the past. 'I just don't think it is what the vast majority of voters listening to this show... are focused on,' he said.
Dominic Raab (left) today revealed that his experience of Peppa Pig World was rather less joyful than that of the the PM (right)
The Johnson family seemed to be enjoying themselves on their trip to Peppa Pig World on Sunday
Tories turned up the heat on 'chaotic and disrespectful' Mr Johnson after his shambolic speech to the CBI on Monday
Amid rising Tory unrest, sources at Rishi Sunak's (left) Treasury have hit out at Mr Johnson for 'blowing' announcements including a huge £96billion rail upgrade (right)
Mr Johnson's extended riff on Peppa Pig came after he lost his place in his speech.
He kicked it off by taking a straw poll of the audience for how many had been to the theme park.
When only a few business chiefs put up their hands, Mr Johnson said: 'Not enough.'
'I was a bit hazy as what I would find at Pepper Pig World but I loved it. Peppa Pig World is very much my kind of place. It has very safe streets, discipline in schools, heavy emphasis on new mass transit system I noticed – even if they are a bit stereotyped about Daddy Pig.
'But the real lesson for me going to Pepper Pig World was about the power of UK creativity.
'Who would have believed, Tony that a pig that looks like a hair dryer or possibly a Picasso-like hair-dryer, a pig that was rejected by the BBC, would now be exported to 180 countries with theme parks both in America and in China as well as in the New Forest.
'A business that is worth at least £6billion to this country… I think that is pure genius, don't you? No government in the world, no Whitehall civil servant would have conceivably have come up with Peppa.'
Meanwhile, tensions between Mr Johnson and Rishi Sunak are at risk of boiling over today with more vicious briefing.
Amid rising Tory unrest, Treasury sources have hit out at Mr Johnson for 'blowing' announcements including a huge £96billion rail upgrade.
The bruising swipe came after senior Conservatives vented fury at a series of bungles, demanding he brings in experienced big beasts to sharpen up his 'f****** awful' Downing Street team.
The premier's shambolic speech at the CBI conference - during which he lost his thread and went on a rambling tangent about Peppa Pig World - fuelled growing frustration.
Some 19 MPs rebelled to vote against watering down the social care cap earlier this week, while dozens more abstained. The sleaze row is still festering and damaging the party in the polls, while the decision to downgrade plans for HS2 links and Northern Powerhouse rail strained relations with Tories in crucial Red Wall seats.
There are even claims that some MPs have started sending no-confidence letters to the chair of the powerful 1922 committee Sir Graham Brady - although there is no immediate prospect of reaching the threshold for triggering a contest.
A Treasury source told the Guardian the Integrated Rail Package had been a disaster partly because of the timing and 'more care' was needed before making promises.
'In the end what happened was that we blew a £96bn announcement that really should have been a lot more positive,' they said.
But a No10 source hit back: 'I'm not really sure how moving a date on the calendar would have made a substantive difference.'
Mr Johnson faces an important test later when he runs the gauntlet of PMQs in the House of Commons. Last week the government benches looked unusually thin amid anger at the botched handling of the sleaze row.
Asked yesterday whether the premier - who has been suffering a heavy cold - is in good health, his spokesman said: 'The prime minister is well and he is focused on delivering for the public.'
Relations between No10 and No11 reached a low point over the summer, as the Chancellor made
