BBC broadcaster Steph McGovern has apologised after making what she has described as a “light-hearted” remark following a speech by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Moments after Mr Johnson had spoken at an event called the Convention of the North held in the town of Rotherham, Miss McGovern appeared on stage and sarcastically declared to the audience:
“Thank you very much there to our Northern Powerhouse minister and the Prime Minister there. Can you just put your hands together to say thanks to them? I’d just like to point out - I am a girly swot and I’m proud of it. Let’s see who’s in their job the longest.”
McGovern’s off-the-cuff remarks aroused a round of applause among the crowd and came hot on the heels of revelations that Boris Johnson had reportedly referred to former Prime Minister David Cameron as a “girly swot” multiple times in the past. It emerged last week that Mr Johnson had also written the same comment about Mr Cameron on a private Cabinet paper.
Despite having her apparently spontaneous remark met with strident laughter from the audience, Miss McGovern later took to Twitter to issue an apology after some allegedly found her comment frustrating.
“At a non BBC event I was hosting today, I made a light hearted remark after the Prime Minister’s speech. Sorry that this caused offence to some. That was absolutely not my intention,” she said.