The National:

WITH only a few words, Lorraine Kelly's contribution to the Tory leadership race is perhaps the most brutal yet.

That may not be a sentence you were expecting to read today, but the contest is so farcical that we probably shouldn't be surprised.

Esther McVey was appearing on Good Morning Britain in her capacity as a Tory MP bidding to replace Theresa May as PM and party leader.

It all went relatively smoothly enough for her – though that bar has been set fairly low, admittedly.

Enter Lorraine Kelly, who used to work with McVey when the MP was a journalist.

Linking to a promo of what was coming next, presenter Susanna Reid asked Kelly: "Do you remember Esther McVey from her GMTV days?"

With a look that could kill, she replied: "Yep. Yes I do. Okay, coming up after half past..."

After the reel, Piers Morgan asked: "So you got on with Esther then, Lorraine?"

Almost keeping a straight face, she said: "I don't remember, love. I don't remember at all. It was an awful long time ago."

Words can't really capture the absolutely savage delivery from Kelly.

McVey will be wishing she'd brought along her portrait of Margaret Thatcher to deflect some of the attention – instead, social media has been eating up the clip.

We only wish we could have seen McVey's reaction...