The United Kingdom’s education secretary, Gillian Keegan, has apologised for her ‘off the cuff remark’ during an interview with a news channel.

“I’m sorry for my off the cuff remark and choice language earlier,” she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday and shared a clip of her interview where she reiterated it.

Keegan was caught on camera abusing her critics over handling the schools Raac crisis, which started after the Health and Safety Executive announced in August that Raac was now life-expired.

Raac crisis pertains to the construction of schools in England. Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) is a building material or system used in roof, floor and wall construction due to its lighter weight and lower cost compared to regular concrete.

The controversial comments were filmed when the interview had finished and the camera had repositioned to film extra shots of Keegan who was still wearing the microphone that was on.

“I wasn’t really talking about anyone in particular,” she told Sky News on Monday.

“I would like to apologise for my choice [of] language so that was unnecessary. But it was an off-the-cuff remark based on the interview,” she added.

The England education minister admitted that the interview pressed her quite hard and why she had not been able to solve the issue which had been going on since 1994.

Keegan blamed the interviewer for her frustration as he was blaming her for the crisis.

“It is frustrating because we’re doing everything now to take a leading position, to be on the front foot, to put all of the support in place that responsible bodies and schools need,” she said.

While sharing a statement from the government, Keegan said that most schools weren’t affected, but those that were have been contacted directly and would receive rapid support and funding to keep children safe and minimise disruption to their learning.