Viewers in stitches as presenter doesn't appear to realise he's stood next to ex-Prime Minister during interview

A presenter at the races appeared not to spot a former prime minister standing near someone he was interviewing.

You ought to be able to guess who I'm talking about, since the UK has had three women for a prime minister and since one of them is not alive, she's unlikely to be attending the races.

You'd also probably recognise Theresa May if you saw her, so by process of elimination that must mean the woman who got completely blanked was... Liz Truss.

Considering her time in Downing Street was something of a catastrophe, hence why it didn't last long, many viewers found the apparent lack of recognition for Truss pretty funny.

During the race coverage, ITV's Matt Chapman was chatting to Dr Jim Hay about the prospect of an upcoming race, while the woman who was briefly prime minister hovered nearby.

However, she wasn't included in the conversation as Chapman turned and left without speaking to Truss in the clip.

The former prime minister, who was infamously mugged off by a lettuce, didn't even say anything in the clip as she just stood there with her mouth slightly open in a grin.

In the presenter's defence, she was prime minister for less than two months and for a good chunk of that time, the nation's attention was focused on the fact that the Queen had just died.

If there's any living prime minister you're least likely to recognise out and about it's probably going to be the one who resigned 45 days after she got the job.

In the end, show host Richard Hoiles wondered aloud whether they'd just seen Liz Truss before quipping 'this market could crash any minute'.

"I am on the floor. I am not sure I will recover," was one verdict from a viewer of the awkward encounter.

"I am DECEASED!!" commented someone else who was clearly vital enough to tweet about the moment, while another claimed they'd previously stood next to Truss and 'even exchanged a couple of polite words with her before realising who she was'.

Even ITV's political editor Robert Peston weighed in as he said Truss appearing to be blanked was 'so funny'.

Considering that she's out of government and lost her seat at the election, this is probably the only way she's going to get a political editor to talk about her again for a while.

Others guessed that the ITV presenter 'probably did recognise her' and just decided not to ask her anything, commenting: "I bet he did recognise her but chose to ignore her."