One Direction singer Niall Horan has hit out at UK health secretary Matt Hancock, describing him as "very smug and slippery".

Hancock has become one of the main public-facing figures in the government over the last few months as the coronavirus pandemic has escalated.

The 41-year-old has already had a heated confrontation with Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan and now Irish singer Horan has come forward to criticise him too.

"I get the idea that Health secretary Matt Hancock thinks he's a lot more intelligent than he actually is," the 26-year-old wrote on Twitter. "Always very smug and slippery.

"Excuse me but Matt you've had a major howler here and it's about time you handed facts out instead of worrying about what the opposition thinks."

More than 33,000 people have now been killed by COVID-19 in the UK.