Senior cabinet minister Christopher Pyne jokingly admitted to making a “clanger” after he was caught off-guard by an unsuspecting dig at him on Q&A on Monday night.

During a discussion about surviving scandals in government, Mr Pyne was forced to admit he made a blunder when Alastair Campbell, the former press secretary to Tony Blair, sent the audience into hysterics.

“This guy should be in the Labor Party!” Mr Campbell said to a roar of laughter.

“That’s what other people are saying!” a red-faced Mr Pyne retorted.

“Something of a clanger. It’s not true … I’ve been with the Liberal Party since I was 17, just for the record.”

As he struggled briefly with his thoughts, Mr Pyne said: “Now you’ve thrown me!”

Watch Christopher Pyne’s ‘clanger’ moment below:

Is democracy itself threatened by attacking many of it’s institutions? @Anna_Greenberg & @cpyne respond #QandA pic.twitter.com/5P04mzjg4G

— QandA (@QandA) June 26, 2017

The comment was in reference to Mr Pyne’s latest controversy where he told a private Liberal function on Friday there would be movement in Parliament soon to allow same-sex marriage.

His remarks caused a stir among the conservative ranks of the Liberal Party on Monday, with former prime minister Tony Abbott accusing Mr Pyne of disloyalty.

However, Mr Pyne – who reiterated his position to fully support same-sex marriage – said it hasn’t affected his relationship with Mr Abbott.

“I’ve been friends with Tony Abbott for a quarter of a century,” he told the panel.

Guest host Virginia Trioli pressed Mr Pyne further, asking if he was still friends with the former PM.

“I’d like to think so, yes,” he responded. “I’ve served in the Cabinet and the leadership group for a very long period of time. I, along with Peta Credlin, Andrew Hirst, Mark Textor, Julie Bishop, and a couple of other people, were absolutely central to him becoming prime minister and defeating the Labor Party in 2013 and almost defeating them in 2010.”

Shadow Minister for Justice Clare O’Neil – despite being against the plebiscite – said there was a really important message in the Defence Industry Minister‘s comments.

“We’ve got a Cabinet minister here on the panel tonight who’s telling us that he wants to see action on this in this Parliament,” Ms O’Neil said.

“I think that’s actually exciting and it’s something that we should be happy about.

“We’ve got a majority of Australians that are in favour of this. A majority of parliamentarians are in favour of it. And all we need to do is bring this to a vote in the Parliament.”

Australia’s gay marriage debate ‘completely bizarre’

However, according to the foreign panelists – Britain native Mr Campbell and US-born pollster Anna Greenberg – the debate surrounding gay marriage and a possible plebiscite in Australia is “very strange”.

“It’s been sorted out in the UK. It’s been sorted out in Ireland which now has a gay prime minister, so he can get married if he wants to! I find this whole argument a bit weird,” Mr Campbell said.

“I can’t for the life of me, on this issue, understand why, if the Prime Minister believes that it’s the right thing, and if he thinks – which I would suggest all the evidence suggests, whatever the vote might be in this state or that state – there’s a big majority for it, I think you just go ahead and do it. At the end, why have the argument about a referendum?”

Ms Greenberg added: “It’s very strange from a US perspective, to be honest with you. We had the same arguments 10-15 years ago about what churches would do and wedding cakes – the Supreme Court, exactly two years ago today, made marriage equality the law of the land.

“Guess what – the sky has not fallen. Gay people are getting married.

“They’re getting the benefits they should get, getting treated equally under the law, except in some states where people are resisting giving out marriage licences. It has not created the sorts of problems I think our colleague here has talked about. I find it completely bizarre.”