THE chairman of the BBC has ordered an investigation into comments allegedly made by the broadcaster John Humphrys mocking senior Labour politicians.

Michael Grade asked for a transcript of an after-dinner speech made by the Radio 4 Today presenter in which he is reported to have said that MPs who do not lie do not make it into government, and others “couldn’t give a bugger whether they lie or not”.

Humphrys, 62, denies making disparaging remarks about Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, John Prescott and Alastair Campbell during the speech, which was also supposedly filled with four-letter words.

In addition, it is claimed that Humphrys told the audience that Andrew Gilligan’s controversial report on Today in May 2003 that accused the government of “sexing up” the intelligence dossier on the Iraq war was correct.

After the Hutton report into the dossier allegations, which led to the resignation of the BBC’s director-general Greg Dyke and chairman Gavyn Davies, the corporation’s governors offered the government an “unreserved apology”, yet during his speech Humphrys apparently said: “The fact is that we got it right.”

Humphrys is understood to have been paid £12,000 for the speech to the Communication Directors’ Forum on June 8, during which he is quoted as saying he and the prime minister “have not been the closest of friends over the last four or five — indeed scarcely spoken to each other”.

Humphrys allegedly told diners Brown was the most boring politician he had ever interviewed and that the problem with Prescott was that “you can’t understand a bloody word he says”. On Peter Mandelson, he reportedly told his audience: “I said to somebody once, ‘Why do you all take an instant dislike to Mandelson?’ and he said, ‘It saves time’.”

Hitting back at the claims that he had branded most politicians as liars, Humphrys said yesterday: “That is a gross misrepresentation of what I said. I certainly don’t think that all politicians are liars.

“What I was saying was that the further you get in the cabinet, the more you are going to have to stand by collective responsibility. Ministers have to toe the party line, even if they don’t necessarily agree with something. That’s how the system works in this country.

“As for the supposedly expletive-laden speech, the swear words I used were made by other people, mainly Alastair Campbell, and I was just quoting them directly.

“Everything I said was meant with great affection for politicians. It was a good-humoured, light-hearted speech. I was saying nothing that I haven’t said many times before in front of countless politicians and reporters.”

A spokesman for Grade said: “Michael Grade has seen reports of what John Humphrys may or may not have said and has asked the director-general (Mark Thompson) for a full report, including a transcript, as soon as possible.”

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