THE SNP have hammered the BBC for reportedly conspiring with the UK Government to cover up xenophobic comments made by Boris Johnson.

The Tory leadership frontrunner was filmed branding officials “French turds” amid frustrations over Brexit talks, according to the Daily Mail.

The footage was reportedly cut from a subsequent documentary series about the Foreign Office after secret negotiations with Government officials.

READ MORE: BBC 'covered up' Boris Johnson comments calling French 'turds'

SNP depute leader Keith Brown says the broadcaster has hit a “new low”.

The National: SNP depute leader Keith Brown

“The revelation that BBC bosses covered up these xenophobic comments by Boris Johnson represents a new low for the corporation,” he said.

“The BBC is supposed to be impartial but instead they have colluded with the Tory government to cover up this astonishing and offensive remark.

“Viewers will be appalled if not surprised to discover that the BBC would buckle to the demands of the Tory government.

“With the BBC now acting hand in glove with this chaotic Tory government – while simultaneously failing to adequately hold them to account – it will only serve to further erode trust in the broadcaster and further damage the BBC’s reputation.”

According to a Whitehall memo seen by the Daily Mail, the BBC were initially intent on broadcasting the “French turd” comment on the basis that it was an accurate and fair portrayal of Johnson at work.

Broadcast bosses relented, however, after the Foreign Office argued the remarks could cause “significant damage” to the UK and went against the Government’s aims in agreeing to the documentary – namely, to “promote Global Britain to a UK audience”.

Asked at Tory leadership hustings if he had made the comments, Johnson said he had "no recollection" of doing so, adding that the story, said to be based on information from the Foreign Office, was not "very well sourced".

The Whitehall leaked memo, dated November 13, reads: “We negotiated the removal of one potentially awkward moment where the former foreign secretary calls the French ‘turds’ so as not to distract from the rest of the programme.”

A BBC spokesman said: “The programme set out to reflect the realities of life inside the Foreign Office, the production team made judgements about what was in the programme and they are satisfied that the programme achieves its ambitions and has the content they wanted.”