Watch moment appalled ambassador stops Boris Johnson reciting colonial poem in Burma's holiest site

'Not appropriate,' says diplomat Andrew Patrick

This is the footage which shows the British ambassador to Burma cutting off Boris Johnson's recitation of a colonial-era poem in the country's holiest site, in what has been labelled a “stunning” gaffe.

Visiting the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon earlier this year, the Foreign Secretary began quoting the opening lines of Rudyard Kipling’s Mandalay.

The poem is written through the eyes of a retired British serviceman in Burma and also references kissing a local girl.

During the visit, after describing a golden Buddhist statue as a “very big guinea pig”, Mr Johnson burst into prose.

“The temple-bells they say … Come you back, you British soldier," the Foreign Secretary said.

Standing next to the ambassador, Andrew Patrick, Mr Johnson continued: “The wind is in the palm trees … the temple bells they say” – before Mr Patrick interjected.

"You're on mic,” Mr Patrick said, looking tense. “Probably not a good idea."

Mr Johnson replied: "What, The Road to Mandalay?"

“No,” the ambassador said, “not appropriate.”

The footage was shot by Channel 4 as part of a documentary on Mr Johnson’s fitness for Prime Ministerial office.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office declined a request for comment from The Independent.

Mark Farmaner, director of the Burma Campaign UK, told the Guardian: “It is stunning he would do this there.

“There is a sensitivity about British colonialism and it is something that people in Burma are still resentful about. British colonial times were seen as a humiliation and an insult.”