Boris Johnson has accused workers of suffering from "post-Covid work from home manana culture" as he slammed delays for Brits getting new driving licences and passports.
The Prime Minister admitted to ranting about lingering pandemic work practices at a Cabinet meeting today and questioned whether working from home was "as productive as all that".
In an interview with Talk TV, Mr Johnson also didn't deny he had threatened to "privatise the a**e off" the Passport Office if it fails to clear its backlog.
The Passport Office is understood to be swamped with requests, with a 10-week average waiting time - meaning some Brits risk missing out on their summer holidays.
It comes after Mr Johnson ordered his top team to dream up ideas to ease the cost of living squeeze on Brits - but without spending any extra Government money.
Asked if he used the phrase at Cabinet, the PM blustered: "I did use those words. I didn't necessarily use them about any particular institution."
Pressed on who he was talking about, he said: "I think we have a general issue in some of our approach to public services and perhaps more widely, that we all got used to working form home, to zoom calls, to thinking we could do business like that.
"I think for many people it is great. I don't want to minimise the value of this I think for lots of people, particularly for women who have kids and so on."
Mr Johnson caught himself and clarified he meant parents rather than just women, adding: "I don't want to be stereotypical about anybody".
Mr Johnson said he accepted there were advantages to working from home but he was "custodian of the public purse".
The PM said: "I have to ask myself whether actually it is as productive as all that.
"When I see institutions not delivering things like passports or driving licences in a speedy way - these things are quite expensive, it's £150 to get a new passport - we want action."
He did not deny that he had threatened to "privatise the a**e off" the Passport Office - but said he didn't care whether an institution was private or public sector as long as it delivered value for money.
Pressed on whether he would privatise it, he said: "I'm not going to rule anything out."
It comes after Tory minister Jacob Rees-Mogg was criticised for leaving notes for civil servants saying "Sorry you were out when I visited" in an attempt to force officials back into the office.
A spokesperson for HM Passport Office said: "Since April 2021, we have been advising people to allow up to 10 weeks when applying for their British passport as more than five million people delayed applying due to the pandemic.
"We urge people who need a new passport to apply for one as soon as possible, with the vast majority of all passport applications being dealt with well within 10 weeks.
"To deal with this demand, we have increased staff numbers by 500 since April 2021. This has helped us to handle more applications than ever before, with more than one million passport applications processed in March 2022."
