The BBC was forced into an embarrassing reversal after overturning a decision to censor the word “faggot” from the popular Christmas song A Fairytale of New York.

Fans complained after Radio 1 “bleeped” the word from the song recorded in 1987 by the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl. The station said that it could be offensive to homosexuals.

The story of two lovers who trade insults on Christmas Eve, includes the line: “You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot, Happy Christmas your arse, I pray God it’s our last.”

Radio 1 had played the song in full for 20 years but the Head of Music decided to censor the track after it soared up the Christmas chart once again, citing changing tastes. Radio 1 also decided to bleep out “slut” from the lyrics but kept in “arse”.