BBC's Ben Brown slapped by woman after appearing to touch her breast during live TV interview

Woman steps backwards looking surprised and lands a firm slap on the presenter's shoulder

A BBC presenter has been slapped by a woman after he appeared to grab her breast when she interrupted a live on-air interview.

Ben Brown, who has worked at the BBC for nearly three decades, was interviewing the BBC’s Assistant Political Editor Norman Smith about the reaction to Labour’s manifesto launch in Bradford on Tuesday.

But half way through the interview a random female passerby wearing sunglasses walked directly into the view of the camera and said “absolutely fantastic”, cracked a smile and gave a thumbs up.

Displeased about the interruption, the BBC news presenter pushed her away by the breast and proceeded to continue with the interview as if nothing had happened. Mr Smith also asked her to leave them alone, saying: “Yes, just give us one second, alright?”

The unnamed woman then stepped backwards looking surprised and landing a firm slap on Mr Brown’s shoulder before walking away from the pair.

But Mr Brown has now insisted the incident was “completely unintentional” and he had simply been trying to curtail disruption.

“Unfortunate interruption of broadcast in Bradford - just tried to minimise disruption but v tricky live on air - completely unintentional,” the presenter wrote on Twitter.

However, viewers immediately noticed the gaffe, quipping that he must have felt like a “tit” afterwards.

"Clearly Ben Brown felt a right tit after this blunder," said one.

The BBC declined to comment on the matter and said it could not confirm whether they had received any complaints about Mr Brown’s actions. However, they did say that no further action would be taken against the presenter as “it was clearly an accident and a mistake”.

This is not the only blunder Mr Brown has made. Last summer, he awkwardly muddled up the names of Tony Blair and George Bush while reporting on the Chilcot report live on air. The presenter was looping to a commentator in Baghdad when he accidentally swapped the surnames of the former British Prime Minister and the former US President.

He said: “The repercussions of what happened way back when Tony Bush and George Blair were considering whether to go to war are still being felt in Iraq today”.

Viewers instantly noticed the error and branded it a “Freudian slip”.