Britain's policing minister said he was using the word "cuts" when he was accused of using a similarly-spelled profanity in the House of Commons.

ADVERTISEMENT

Policing Minister Nick Herbert was met with laughter by fellow members of Parliament when he mispronounced "cuts," and Speaker John Bercow said listeners were having a problem with their hearing "playing tricks with them" and they "didn't hear what they thought they heard," Sky News reported Monday.

The gaffe came only hours after Radio 4 Today host Jim Naughtie mistakenly said the same word as a mispronunciation of Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt's last name and colleague Andrew Marr made the same error while discussing Naughtie's mispronunciation.