David Cameron appeared to give Foreign Office minister Hugo Swire a playful smack on the bottom during last night’s state banquet at Buckingham Palace.
The Prime Minister was walking behind Mr Swire, an old friend and supporter, when he cheekily attracted his attention with a swipe of the hand.
The minister spun around and walked away in conversation with Mr Cameron.
TV cameras captured the encounter, with ITV journalist Chris Ship sharing a video of the footage on Twitter.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Interesting way David Cameron greeted his foreign minister <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/HugoSwire" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3096036-https://twitter.com/HugoSwire" data-vars-event-id="c23">@HugoSwire</a> tonight at Buckingham Palace <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://t.co/K1oDZtNud1" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3096036-https://t.co/K1oDZtNud1" data-vars-event-id="c23">pic.twitter.com/K1oDZtNud1</a> — Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/chrisshipitv/status/656562434195353601" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3096036-https://twitter.com/chrisshipitv/status/656562434195353601" data-vars-event-id="c23">October 20, 2015</a>
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was also at the dinner, in formal white tie and tails for the banquet.
The event was hosted as part of Chinese premier Xi Jinping's state visit to the UK.
