THE BBC has been called out after it mistakenly reported that Liz Truss has become the UK's first female foreign secretary.

The former Secretary of State for International Trade was promoted to the role on Wednesday after being seen going into Downing Street. 

Number 10 sources later confirmed her appointment, which took place amid a Tory Cabinet reshuffle.

Dominic Raab was demoted to make way for Truss after he was widely criticised for his handling of the Afghanistan crisis. He was moved from the Foreign Office to the Ministry of Justice, but also handed the title of Deputy Prime Minister.

READ MORE: Cabinet reshuffle LIVE: All the latest on Boris Johnson's changes

BBC News reported on the Cabinet reshuffle. Presenter Luxmy Gopal told viewers: "In the past few minutes the former trade secretary Liz Truss has been appointed foreign secretary. The first woman to hold the role."

In fact, the first woman to hold the role was Margaret Beckett, who served as foreign secretary from 2006 to 2007.

Grant Tucker, chair of the Broadcasting Press Guild, spotted the mistake and took to Twitter to correct it.

He said: "The BBC has mentioned a few times now that Liz Truss is the first female Foreign Secretary, which will be news to Margaret Beckett who held the role under Tony Blair."

Others on Twitter criticised the BBC for the mistake, with pro-independence blogger James Kelly writing: "This is particularly harsh because it's often overlooked that Ms Beckett was the first female Labour leader.

"But at least on that one there's the excuse that she was only Labour leader in a technical sense, whereas she *actually was* Foreign Secretary."

One user added: "Thought that would be elementary." Another agreed: "It should be."

Keith Bennett said: "The @BBCNews of the past would never have made mistakes like this.

"What has happened to the journalism standards at the BEEB?"

One user asked the BBC to comment on the incident, adding: "Quality of BBC journalists/reporters has gone down. No longer looking, researching or asking relevant questions."

Another user simply said: "Hey @bbc get your goddam facts right."

The BBC has been approached for comment.