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Boris Johnson called the French 'turds' over Brexit but it was cut from BBC documentary

Conservative party leadership contender Boris Johnson speaks at Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre, south England, Thursday June 27, 2019. The winner of the leadership contest will replace Theresa May, who stepped down as party leader after failing to secure Parliament's approval for her Brexit deal. (Andrew Matthews/PA via AP)
The BBC reportedly cut a crude comment by Boris Johnson about the French from a documentary following concerns at the Foreign Office over how it could impact diplomatic relations (Picture: Andrew Matthews/PA via AP)

Boris Johnson reportedly accused the French of being ‘turds’ over Brexit in a comment that was cut from a BBC documentary before it aired.

The Daily Mail reported that the comment was due to appear in a fly-on-the-wall documentary but the Foreign Office asked for it to be removed amid concerns it could affect diplomatic relations.

According to the newspaper, a Whitehall memo said the comment would make Anglo-French relations ‘awkward’.

Senior diplomats also privately voiced concerns that it could make it harder for the UK to get a good Brexit deal, it reported.

The comment was reportedly made during filming for the three-part documentary Inside the Foreign Office.

The documentary was broadcast on BBC Two in November last year, after Mr Johnson had resigned as foreign secretary.

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A BBC spokeswoman said: "The programme set out to reflect the realities of life inside the Foreign Office, the production team made judgments about what was in the programme and they are satisfied that the programme achieves its ambitions and has the content they wanted."

The Foreign Office declined to comment.

But Foreign Office Minster Sir Alan Duncan said there had been a significant level of concern within the Foreign Office about the documentary.

He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "I do remember that the filming of the documentary was a pretty high octane venture.

“There were some pretty bumpy moments when we thought 'Ooh, we don't want that to appear'.

"I imagine that there were discussions between the Foreign Office and the Beeb saying 'Please don't put that it in ... or that, or that, or that, or that'. This was perhaps one of them."

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