Comedian Rory Bremner has claimed he fooled Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett with his Gordon Brown impression.

The Channel 4 comedian says he called Beckett claiming to be the Chancellor at the time of the last election.

He told the Sunday Mirror he was shocked when she not only fell for it but began speaking about their Cabinet colleagues.

"The minister in question advised the Chancellor not to bring Stephen Byers back in to the Cabinet, and generally discussed the prospects of other Cabinet ministers," he recalled. "It was the most bizarre thing.

"It was like the safe door opening. The production team and I just stared at each other openmouthed - even the lawyers were aghast."

A new series of Bremner, Bird and Fortune starts on Saturday but the phone trick will never be broadcast because of regulations.

Beckett commented: "I have no recollection of a conversation in the terms that are being suggested. If he has done as he suggests, it is both an unprincipled and unpleasant breach of privacy."