London mayor Boris Johnson has rejected claims made by culture secretary Ben Bradshaw that he advocates the return of admission charges for the city's museums and galleries.

Speaking at the Labour party conference, Bradshaw suggested that Johnson "let the cat out the bag when he advocated charging for museums" in a speech regarding the future of arts and culture in the capital. However, the mayor issued a statement saying that the culture secretary was "deliberately misrepresenting" the views expressed when addressing delegates from the arts, business and public sectors at the Victoria and Albert Museum last month.

Johnson said: "I did not advocate mandatory charges for national museums and galleries last week, but rather called for more voluntary donations by visitors who can afford them. "It is important for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Greater London Authority to work together and this kind of political point-scoring makes that harder."