A presenter on BBC Radio 4’s flagship Today programme blundered by pronouncing the surname of Cabinet minister Jeremy Hunt as “C***”.

Justin Webb made the error while reading out a newspaper story about the Health and Social Care Secretary.

Listeners heard him say: “The paper says that Health Secretary Jeremy C*** … Hunt is understood to favour a cap on social care.”

Webb claimed he had “swerved” away from pronouncing the full four-letter word, but listeners were convinced they had heard it.

He was reading out a story from the Daily Express during the programme’s review of newspapers and news websites.

It is not the first time a Today presenter has been embarrassed by the Health Secretary’s name.

James Naughtie made the error while Mr Hunt was culture secretary.