Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and journalist Amol Rajan clashed on the Today programme when the senior politician said the presenter’s comments were not “worthy of the BBC”.

The duo engaged in a robust exchange on BBC Radio 4 about the budget Mr Hunt unveiled on Wednesday, after Rajan told Hunt he was referred to as a “fiscal drag queen”.

Rajan asked him: “What about the millions of people who as a result of fiscal drag, are gonna be paying significantly more by the end of this Parliament than they were at the start of this Parliament?

Budget 2024
Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt leaves 11 Downing Street (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

“They call you the fiscal drag queen of British politics, don’t they, and with good reason.

“The net effect of your time in number 11 is that taxes are still going up.”

Hunt told him: “I don’t think I’ve been called a drag queen before by the way, Amol.”

Rajan clarified it was a “fiscal drag queen”, adding: “Certainly not my phrase.”

Fiscal drag is when people end up paying more tax than they otherwise would, when their pay rises with inflation but the thresholds do not keep up.

Later in the interview, Rajan said: “This might be, and you’ll say you don’t want it to be, one of your last big acts in politics. Do you really think you’ve read the moment?

“This is a country ravaged by economic shocks, at best drifting, at worse, stagnant. We all know about its potential, but we’ve had seven quarters of falling GDP per head, that’s been revised downwards.

“We’re hooked on foreign labour, the birth rate is collapsing. Many public services are creaking, councils are going bust.

“Those are facts, has your budget really come even close to meeting the scale of the challenges this country faces?”

Mr Hunt said he believed it had, adding: “I think the overall characterisation that you’ve just given of the British economy is unworthy of the BBC.”

Rajan scoffed and as the pair then continued to talk over each other, he could be heard saying: “The BBC is an organisation of tens of thousands of people doing lots of different things, there is no such thing as ‘the BBC’ and I’m putting to you facts about this country.”

Mr Hunt responded: “You’ve accused me of being… a drag queen.”

He added: “It’s unworthy of you Amol.”

The pair had already had a disagreement earlier in the show while discussing productivity savings, when Mr Hunt accused Rajan of saying something that “isn’t true”.