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Margaret Hodge blundered into a Downing Street rebuke and a hail of criticism from the arts world yesterday after criticising the Proms for attracting too narrow a section of society.

The Culture Minister, who has strayed into controversy in the past, did it again by suggesting that the Proms was one of several big cultural events that many people did not feel comfortable attending.

No 10 suggested that she had not meant what she was reported as saying and David Cameron said that she “just did not get it”.

The annual festival of classical music organised by the BBC was criticised by Mrs Hodge in a speech on the importance of culture in building a sense of national belonging.

“The audiences for many of our greatest cultural events — I’m thinking in particular of the Proms — is still a long way from demonstrating that people from different backgrounds feel at ease with this.”

Mr Cameron said: “I think Margaret Hodge is wrong. We want more things where people come together to celebrate Britishness and more occasions when people think the Union Jack is a great symbol of our Britishness, rather than sniping at it. It is a classic example of a Labour politician just not getting some of the things people like to do to celebrate culture and identity and a great British institution.”

Gordon Brown’s spokesman said that her comments had not been intended as an attack on the Proms.

“She supports the Proms, as does the Prime Minister. The Proms have done a good job with the BBC in broadening its audience,” the spokesman said. “The Prime Minister’s position on this is quite clear. He thinks the Proms are a good institution.”

Mrs Hodge had praised “icons of a common culture” from the television soap opera Coronation Street to The Angel of the North sculpture in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.

In a speech to the Institution for Public Policy Research (IPPR) on Britishness, Heritage and the Arts, Mrs Hodge said a “shared sense of common cultural identity” was a key part of social integration and cohesion.

She added: “This is not about making every audience completely representative but if we claim great things for our [cultural] sectors in terms of their power to bring people together, then we have a right to expect they will do that wherever they can.”

In her speech, Mrs Hodge praised other institutions for “creating the icons of a common culture that everybody can feel a part of” — such as The Angel of the North, the British Museum, the Eden Project in Cornwall and TV and radio shows “from Coronation Street to The Archers”. But she acknowledged that culture could also be divisive, citing the examples of Jerry Springer: The Opera, which Christians said was blasphemous. She also suggested that British citizenship ceremonies be held in historic buildings such as castles to help people to “associate their new citizenship with key cultural icons”.

Critics say the size of the Proms’ programme makes it daunting and the traditional Last Night has been overwhelmed by jingoistic flag-waving.

A spokesman for the BBC defended its Proms season, saying: “We are proud that the BBC Proms is world-renowned for the way it combines excellence in classical music with an ongoing commitment to bringing it to the widest possible audience. This has been recognised by three nominations for audience development in the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards.”

Sir Nicholas Kenyon, the director of the Barbican who ran the BBC Proms for several years, told The World at One Radio 4 programme: “She is absolutely wrong to use the Proms as an example because there is no more cultural event that is more welcoming and more accessible.”

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