A glamorous French politician has become an accidental internet star after she mixed up inflation with oral sex during a TV interview.

Rachida Dati, France's former justice minister, said she had made the slip because she was trying to speak too fast.

"I just spoke too quickly but, well, if that lets everybody have a laugh, then that's fine," she said in a radio interview.

Miss Dati's gaffe came as she attacked foreign investment funds in an interview with Canal Plus.

"When I see some of them looking for returns of 20 or 25 per cent, at a time when fellatio is close to zero, and in particular in a slump, that means we are destroying businesses," she said.

French website Lepost.fr posted the clip and said by early evening it had been viewed 120,000 times.

It was then posted on various other video-sharing sites such as YouTube and Daily Motion.

The French for fellatio is "fellation", which sounds similar to inflation, which is the same in French as it is in English.

Dati is now a member of the European parliament and mayor of Paris's 7th arrondissement.

She was dropped from the French government last year after her penchant for designer dresses and appearing on the covers of celebrity magazines attracted criticism.