Energy Minister Michael Fallon appears to have contradicted his own public claims that fracking would not ruin the countryside after apparently joking the controversial drilling process could cause houses' walls to shake.
The boss of energy company Cuadrilla said he understood why the public were scared about fracking and the industry needed to address these concerns.
Francis Egan said: "There are a lot of scare stories out there. I attended a drop-in session in Balcombe and I had people come to me and they were convinced that their children would get cancer because they had been told that they would get cancer from drilling an oil exploration well.
"We have drilled 2,000 exploration wells onshore in this country over the last several decades and there is not one reported case of cancer as a consequence of that.
"There is no risk of people getting cancer but if you spread those kind of stories, I completely understand that people would be scared.
"I would be scared so part of our job is to try and explain what it is we are doing, what we are not doing, what are the risks, if there are risks associated with that and how they are managed."
The Democratic presidential candidate may also have shown his cards on his choice of running mate.
The US president also shared a post on Twitter accusing Dr Anthony Fauci of misleading the public over hydroxychloroquine.
Fears over an impending second wave of coronavirus dominates Wednesday’s front pages.