NICOLA Sturgeon has said Alex Salmond’s joke about him having sex with her belongs to the less enlightened “Benny Hill era” of 30 years ago.

However the First Minister denied her predecessor was “sexist” after he joked about female politicians and orgasms on the opening day of his sell-out Edinburgh Fringe show.

Mr Salmond, 62, had been accused of belittling and “degrading” women with his comment.

Benny Hill is best remembered for being chased on TV by a group of scantily clad women.

His show was cancelled in 1991 amid claims of sexism and he died the following year aged 68.

The former SNP leader told the Sunday audience of Alex Salmond Unleashed: “I promised you today we’d either have Theresa May, or Nicola Sturgeon, or Ruth Davidson or Melania Trump, but I couldn’t make any of these wonderful women come...”

There was then a “bad dum” on the drums, before he added: “.. to the show”.

Scottish Labour called it “a horrendous example to young men”, while the Women 50:50 group said it illustrated the sexism still faced by female leaders.

Ms Sturgeon, who was condemning sexism in an unrelated row on the same day, was asked about the remark when the Scottish Cabinet met on Tuesday in Montrose.

She did not defend the joke, but said Mr Salmond was not sexist.

She told the BBC: “The first thing I would say is that Alex Salmond is not sexist.

“I’m fairly well qualified to comment on this because I’ve worked with Alex Salmond very closely for almost 30 years now, so he’s not sexist.

“The second thing I would say though is that occasionally Alex is not always as funny as he thinks he is, and perhaps this is an example of a joke that perhaps belongs more in the Benny Hill era than it does in the modern era."

A Scottish Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: “Alex Salmond’s attempt at comedy is pompous, leering and unfunny. One star, would not recommend.”

Mr Salmond’s spokesman said the criticism from Labour, which is led by Kezia Dugdale, was because they were “just miffed they didn’t get a mention”.