Lord Mandelson admitted this morning that he has been jealously watching Strictly Come Dancing and would love to be invited to join the show.

The Business Secretary said he had been cheering for the anti-hero John Sergeant during this weekend’s episodes of the dance pageant, in which the political journalist continued to win public acclaim and votes despite failing to master the required steps.

"I was cheering for John Sergeant on Saturday with, I have to say - a degree of . . . envy," Lord Mandelson told BBC Breakfast.

Asked if he would like to step into Sergeant’s two left shoes and become a contestant on the popular programme, he smiled coyly and replied: “It would be nice to be asked.”

The Minister, who was summoned back to the Cabinet in a shock reshuffle last month, was touring the television and radio studios this morning to rubbish the performance of George Osborne, the Tory Shadow Chancellor, but he could not resist bragging that he was a far better dancer than Sergeant.

Offered the chance to demonstrate his dance floor prowess, he said: "Not this morning because it's too serious but another day invite me back and I will show you what I can do."

Asked if he had really suggested he would take part in Strictly, he replied: "I'm not backtracking. Have you ever seen me dance?"

Sergeant, a 64-year-old broadcaster, made it through to the next round of the show at the weekend on a wave of support from the public, although it is not clear whether Lord Mandelson cast a telephone vote himself.

The political journalist's popularity has infuriated the judges who have consistently complained that he is the worst performer on the programme.

This week, he finished with the lowest scores of all the celebrity contestants for the third week in a row, but still the public voted to keep him in after a stilted performance of American Smooth with Kristina Rihanoff, his Russian partner. Cherie Lunghi, an actress, was his latest victim. She was voted off the show in Sergeant's place which left some of the other participants visibly annoyed.

The four judges have become increasingly infuriated at his performances, with Craig Revel Horwood telling The Times on Saturday: “This is a dance competition. It’s not Strictly Come John Sergeant.”

The public seems to disagree and a host of Sergeant campaign groups have sprung up on social networking sites including one on Facebook called We only vote for John Sergeant to annoy Craig.

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