The Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis has said she once caught Bill Clinton perusing the Kama Sutra in a hotel gift shop.

The BBC presenter said she spotted the former US president with the risque reading material following a day of interviews.

Maitlis said she first thought Clinton was reading a “cultured” history book after she saw him in the shop, but later realised it was a copy of the ancient erotic text.

Speaking on The Jonathan Ross Show, to be broadcast on Saturday evening, Maitlis described seeing Clinton in the books section: “He goes straight to the books and I’m like, ‘Of course, the cultured man, he’s gone to read about the empire’.

“I was looking and he picked up this book and I thought, ‘That doesn’t look like a history book’ and I looked a bit closer. I was like, ‘It doesn’t look like it’s got any text, it does look familiar’ - and I realised he’d picked up a copy of the Kama Sutra.

“He was looking at it in the gift shop. I was like, ‘OK, I think it might be time for a very swift exit’.”

Maitlis also spoke to fellow guests Kiefer Sutherland, Olly Murs and Winnie Harlow about meeting Donald Trump.

Before he become commander-in-chief, Trump spoke to Maitlis about his hand-shaking habits and “germaphobia”.

She said: “He came towards me and gave me this macho manly handshake. I was quite surprised because we’d always heard about the germaphobia and how he doesn’t like shaking hands.

“I said, ‘Oh, I thought you had germaphobia?’ and he said, ‘No, not with you. I shake hands with you. It’s them that I don’t shake hands with.’

“And I said, ‘Oh, the people in your lobby?’ and he’s like, ‘Yes.”

Maitlis is the lead presenter of an all-female lineup on the Newsnight current affairs show.