Andrew Marr accused Theresa May of refusing to answer “straightforward questions” and underscored the point by playing her a clip of her awkward 'dementia tax' press conference, in which the Prime Minister denied she had U-turned on the manifesto pledge.

In a blunt exchange, the BBC presenter put it to Mrs May that her habit of ducking difficult questions was one of reasons the Conservative snap election campaign had floundered.

The Prime Minister responded saying she refused to answer hypothetical questions from journalists and defended her changes to the ‘dementia tax’ policy, maintaining that it wasn't a U-turn.

Mrs May appeared on The Andrew Marr Show this morning on the first day of the Conservative Party conference in Manchester to discuss her plans to freeze university tuition fees at £9,250 and spend £10 billion helping first-time buyers.

The clash came after an exchange over Brexit negotiations where Mr Marr asked Mrs May if she would resign if Britain exited the EU without a deal.

Mrs May replied she was hopeful she could agree a deal that would be good for the both the EU and UK.

Mr Marr followed up saying: “Can I put it to you that I am asking you very straightforward questions and you are not answering them and this happened in the election campaign as well, which is why you got into so much trouble.