British MP reveals innuendo-laden poultry speech was result of lost bet

A British Conservative minister has revealed an innuendo-laden speech she gave on poultry welfare was the result of a bet she lost with Royal Navy officer friends.

Penny Mordaunt, herself a Navy reservist, made the speech last year in the House of Commons.

To all appearances speaking about the need for more care in poultry welfare, the MP managed to sneak in the word "c**k" six times, as reference to a rooster, while also dropping a few mentions of "laid" and "layers".

This week she came clean about the reason for the cheeky speech.

Ms Mordaunt said it was a running joke at her navy training that she needed to break away from her "ladylike persona" and curse more during the workouts.

However, she said this rarely happened - so when she was fined by officers for a misdemeanour, her "punishment" was to mention the alternative term for rooster several times on the floor of Parliament.

Not everybody is happy now the cunning stunt has been revealed.

Former Labour minister Kate Hoey told the UK Telegraph the minister needed to show more respect.

"The public expects debates in the Chamber to be on matter of serious concern," she said.

"It is sad that she has misused it in this way - it sets a bad precedent."