Liz Truss has been accused of double standards over the Prime Minister's trip to Saudi Arabia amid the global fuel crisis.
Good Morning Britain host Susanna Reid hit out at the Foreign Secretary who previously said the UK shouldn't be doing deals with authoritarian regimes.
Boris Johnson is visiting the UAE and Saudi Arabia today as he tries to wean the West off Russian energy in response to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
Bu Johnson downplayed his chances of managing to secure greater oil production from the Middle East in an attempt to lessen the severity of the cost of living crisis facing the UK.
Truss, who conducted the media rounds for the government this morning, attempted to defend the PM by saying the world is dealing with a crisis not seen for a long time.
However, Reid accused the Tory MP of double standards after bringing up her previous comments about dealing with dictators.
She said: "We have taken a very moral stance on Russia. Why does that collapse when it comes to Saudi?"
Truss replied: "Well, these are two very, very different cases.
"What Vladimir Putin is seeking to do, and he's been seeking to do this for some time and frankly the West has been asleep at the wheel, but he is seeking to regain vast swathes of what was the Soviet Union under Russian control.
"He won't stop at Ukraine if we don't stop him."
Reid then asked: "Why do we have a double standard when it comes to another regime? You yourself said in a speech in Washington that the West needed to end its strategic dependence on authoritarian regimes for energy and other vital resources.
"We are simply going to increase our dependence on another authoritarian regime are we not?"
Truss said: "What I'm saying is that Russia is the greatest threat to global security, it is the greatest threat to Britain's security that there is.
"We have to work with all of the potential partners that we can to diversify away from Russian oil and gas and ensure Europe does that as well.
"Otherwise what we will see is Vladimir Putin's continued expansionism across Europe that doesn't bear thinking about.
"Now of course that means we have to make uncomfortable decisions.
"Of course it means that we have to work with countries we don't necessarily agree with, but we are facing a serious global security threat of the type that we have not seen for decades.
"We are right to explore all the possible opportunities, however uncomfortable exploring those opportunities might be."
To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here.
