Lorraine Kelly has spoken out against criticism of her viewers after Boris Johnson’s failure to recognise her sparked online commentary.

The Prime Minister was interviewed by Susanna Reid on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday (3 May).

At the end of the conversation, Reid introduced Kelly as the next host on the channel, after which Johnson was heard asking: “Who’s Lorraine?”

Some have interpreted Johnson’s comment as an example of him being “out of touch” with the public, with one tweet claiming that his not recognising Kelly will cost him “another 1.5 million votes”.

However, others have defended Johnson.

“The only people who watch Lorraine are the unemployed and the feckless,” a commenter wrote, before claiming that Johnson not recognising Kelly would gain him votes, rather than lose them.

Upon seeing this specific remark, Kelly decided to respond directly to the critic and tweeted her disapproval of the message.

“You can say what you like about me but don’t dare have a go at my fantastic viewers,” she replied. “This is beyond patronising.”

Earlier, Kelly responded to the PM not knowing who she was on her programme, Lorraine, which aired directly after the Good Morning Britain interview.

“Why should he know who I am?” she reasoned. “He’s busy in the morning; he wouldn’t be watching us – although he could learn a lot, as you know.”