Jeremy C**t; a biography

The Today programme’s Nick Robinson lapsed into the Anglo-Saxon when discussing the shadow chancellor this morning, telling listeners at 7.35am how Labour had claimed “Rishi Sunak and Jeremy C**t had no idea where they’d get the money” for £12 billion in welfare cuts.

This is hardly the first time BBC radio presenters have struggled with Hunt’s name. In 2010 James Naughtie was forced to apologise for dropping the C-bomb while discussing the then culture secretary’s plans for universal broadband provision – only for Andrew Marr to do exactly the same thing on Start The Week an hour later.

In 2018 Justin Webb made the error while reading out a newspaper story about the then health secretary, with listeners hearing him say: “The paper says that health secretary Jeremy C**t… Hunt is understood to favour a cap on social care.”

And in 2019 Victoria Derbyshire made the gaffe during a debate over who should be the next Tory leader, telling Conservative MP Steve Brine: “You say the man you are backing, Jeremy C***… I’m so sorry, Jeremy Hunt. I’ve never said that before in my life.”

Other examples are Sky News’ Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije in 2017, her colleague Tom Rayner the following year and BBC News Channel presenter Carrie Gracie in 2019.

Just what is it about the austerity-loving, Brexit-backing, wife’s-nationality-forgetting multimillionaire and distant relative of Oswald Mosley which makes broadcasters reach for the Chaucer?