Vaz's Blair joke caught on tape

Preparing for a Q&A session on stage at the Labour conference, he told Hazel Blears to wait until her microphone was in the right position before speaking.

Communities Secretary Ms Blears joked: "Don't speak until you're spoken to."

Mr Vaz, a former Europe minister, replied: "Pretend it was like the old Cabinet." Both politicians laughed, not realising they had been recorded.

'Don't speak before'

Mr Vaz and Ms Blears were chatting on stage before a question-and-answer session involving several Cabinet ministers.

Just before she rose to give her conference address, Ms Blears asked: "How will you know that I know the answer?"

Mr Vaz, MP for Leicester East, replied: "Well, I don't. Just sort of wink at me. Don't start immediately because the mic has to go up.

"Don't speak before I call your name."

To which Ms Blears, MP for Salford, said: "Don't speak until you're spoken to."

Mr Vaz then joked: "Pretend it was like the old Cabinet."

It is not the first time a politician has been caught off-guard on tape.

In the mid-1990s the then prime minister, John Major, was recorded describing un-named members of his Cabinet as "bastards".

More recently, Tony Blair and US President George W Bush were caught by a microphone during a break at the G8 conference in Russia. Mr Bush greeted his ally with the words "Yo, Blair".