Lorraine Kelly and Esther McVey endure awkward live TV moment after presenter asked if she remembers Tory MP from GMTV days

'If looks could kill she'd be six feet under,' says Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan

Lorraine Kelly appeared to snub her former GMTV colleague and Conservative leadership hopeful Esther McVey during an awkward on-air exchange.

During a live link to ITV's Kelly on Good Morning Britain, where the Tory MP was appearing as a guest, host Susanna Reid said: "Do you remember Esther McVey from her GMTV days?"

The Scottish presenter glossed over the question, shook her head and said curtly: "Yeah, yes I do. OK, coming up after half past eight..."

Piers Morgan then quizzed Kelly, saying: "So you got on with Esther then Lorraine?"

Kelly replied: "I don't remember, love. I don't remember at all, it was an awful long time ago."

Morgan went on to joke that if "looks could kill she'd be six feet under" and added that he'd "love to hear the backstory".

McVey co-hosted GMTV in the late 1990s after beginning her television career as a presenter on CBBC.

She left the media and went into business before being elected to parliament in 2010.

Neither Kelly nor McVey have commented on the awkward exchange.