David Cameron in awkward missed kiss with Samantha after Tory conference speech

The Prime Minister was the only leader to ask his wife to join him on stage at the end

David Cameron rounded off his speech at the Conservative conference with a “sexist joke” that nobody expected and then a failed attempt at kissing his wife Samantha.

Twitter recoiled when the Prime Minister went off script and made an unsavoury joke at his wife’s expense when he mentioned Labour’s economic guru, Richard Murphy.

“His book is actually called The Joy of Tax. I've got it. I took it home to show Samantha, he said. “It’s got 64 positions - and none of them work.”

The quip was branded “bizarre”, “creepy”, “contrived" and later played down by his PR team as “a bit of poetic licence”.

Mr Cameron was then the only leader to ask his wife to join him on stage after wrapping up his otherwise well-received address, before leaning in for a badly-timed kiss.

But Samantha seemed to have different ideas and turned her head away, perhaps an understandable move considering her husband's comments.

The Conservative leader’s speech was punctuated by a number of jokes and even included a reference to the so-called ‘pig-gate’ claims in Lord Ashcroft’s unauthorised biography: “Boris was a prop; I was a hooker. That's a fact, not a chapter from Michael Ashcroft's book”.

Mr Cameron vowed to be tougher during negotiations in the European Union and take harsher measures to tackle extremism.

His speech was applauded for being “the most important statement of social reform by any Prime Minister in last 40 years” by the Welsh Secretary Stephen Crabb and “an audacious bid for the centre ground” by Labour MP for Ilford North Wes Streeting.