Boris Johnson today insisted comments in which he described single mothers as 'irresponsible' and working-class men as 'feckless' are 25 years old and have been taken out of context.

The Prime Minister has been urged to apologise for making the remarks in a magazine article published in 1995.

He was confronted over them this morning during an LBC radio phone-in as Ruth, a single mother, told him: 'I don't appreciate what you have said about single mothers and by implication my family. Why are you happy to criticise people like me when you refuse to discuss your family?'

Mr Johnson said: 'Obviously, Ruth I want to say first of all to you that I mean absolutely no disrespect to you or indeed to anybody.

'These are 25-year-old quotations culled from articles written I think before I was even in politics.

'And which actually, when you look at the article itself bears no resemblance to what is claimed.

'Frankly what it is... this is yet another attempt by the Labour Party to distract from the fundamental issue at the heart of this election.

'Almost invariably when you look at these articles you will find that that the actual piece is saying the opposite of what is claimed.'

Mr Johnson added that the way in which the comments had been presented was an 'absolute distortion' of 'what I say and what I think'.

Boris Johnson, sits in his London office reading the anniversary issue of The Spectator when he edited the magazine between 1999 and 2005

Writing in the Spectator, Mr Johnson had also described British men as 'useless' and the children of single mothers as 'a generation of ill-raised, ignorant, aggressive and illegitimate children.'

Mr Johnson also criticised the 'appalling proliferation of single mothers' and blamed successive Tory and Labour governments for 'failing to restrict the public emoluments available to this group.'

The PM, who was the assistant editor of the Daily Telegraph at the time, also suggested social housing was 'an enticement' for young women to have children.

Gingerbread, a charity that advocates on behalf of single parents, told The Times: 'Boris Johnson's past description of single parents is wrong.'

'His stereotyping is a thoughtless and inaccurate characterisation of almost 2 million people. Single-parent families are part of mainstream life in the UK, with one in four families headed by a single parent.

'Employment rates for single parents are at a record high, with almost 70 per cent of single parents working in spite of the lack of flexible work and high cost of childcare.'

Mr Johnson goes on to say the blame for it all rests with the 'modern British male.'

He adds: 'If he is blue collar, he is likely to be drunk, criminal, aimless, feckless and hope- less, and perhaps claiming to suffer from low self-esteem brought on by unemployment.

Mr Johnson was forced to address the remarks during an appearance on LBC radio this morning

'If he is white collar, he is likely to be little better.'

Labour's Ian Lavery, an ex-miner, told the Daily Mirror: 'These are outrageous remarks from a man out of touch with reality and whose ignorance and hatred of working-class communities knows no bounds.

In the controversial piece, Mr Johnson also calls for cuts to benefits, saying that it would leave women in 'destitution on a Victorian scale' and this may stop unmarried women wanting children.

He adds: 'Something must be found, first, to restore women's desire to be married.

'That means addressing the feebleness of the modern Briton, his reluctance or inability to take control of his woman and be head of a household.

'Perhaps the problem really is economic: that he feels depressed and emasculated by the state's superior ability and willingness to provide for his womenfolk.'