Politicians and business leaders joined in the Swiss town of Davos for the annual World Economic Forum to outline their plans to improve the world.
Theresa May was only given a 23-minute slot at the event. Yet French President Emmanuel Macron had a 58-minute speech and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke for 35 minutes.
The issue was raised with Tory MP Kwasi Kwarteng by Sky News’s Sarah Hewson who asked whether Britain needs to “accept a new reality” after Emmanuel Macron was given more than double the amount of time to speak at the event.
Mr Kwarteng said people are “reading too much into” it and it is no deliberate snub on Britain.
He said: “Look I think you are reading, or people are reading far too much into these things.
“I’ve been, on a very junior capacity, this sort of diplomatic rounds. And often the timings aren’t particularly deliberate. I don’t think there’s a deliberate snub in this regard.”
The prominent Tory backbencher said, if you were to be “very pedantic”, Emmanuel Macron is a head of state and Britain’s head of state is the Queen.
Mr Kwarteng said: “Theresa May, technically, is not the head of state of Britain. So there are all sorts of diplomatic niceties and protocols around that.
“So, I don’t know quite why the timings were as they were but I think we are reading too much into all of that.”
During his speech, President Macron hailed his French victory. He said: “My message is France is back.
“We will never have French success without European success.”
Theresa May used the speech as an opportunity to call for social media companies to take more responsibility in tackling online extremism.
Mrs May said: “Companies simply cannot stand by while their platforms are used to facilitate child abuse, modern slavery or the spreading of terrorist or extremist content.”
US President Donald Trump is also set to deliver a speech on the last day of the event.
The World Economic Forum responded to the claims and said: “Speaking times are based on agendas.”