United States President George W Bush has announced the most sweeping intelligence reforms in the US’s history but in doing so made one of his trademark slip-ups.

“Ladies and gentlemen, today is a landmark day in the war on terror,” Mr Bush told the gathered (and tethered) Washington press gallery, after warming up the crowd with silly facial expressions.

“I have signed into law the vital intelligence overalls that this country has needed ever since that dark day in September 2001 when our enemies struck against us,” he said.

“In these new overalls, our vast intelligence enterprise will become more unified, coordinated and effective.

“By having all intelligence officials wearing these overalls, they will enable us to better do our duty, which is protect the American people.

“The terrorists thought they had got a step ahead of us with those orange overalls they all wear at Guantanamo Bay but we’re hitting back - and our overalls will be green to represent how envious those fuckers are going to be,” Mr Bush continued before his weary-looking chief adviser Scott McClellan walked on stage and whispered into the ear of the world’s most powerful man.

The President, looking mildly disappointed but not embarrassed that he was to announce an intelligence overhaul, not overalls, added: “Oh, look, folks, you know me and how I mangle the language. Turns out it’s not overalls after all, but an intelligence overhaul.

“I know that’s not going to provide such good headlines and front-page photographs but I’m afraid it’s the best we can do for now, though Scotty tells me we might take a look at the overalls plan now that I’ve come up with it.

“In the meantime, what we’ll do is have one body to oversee our intelligence services.”

Though Mr Bush’s bungling of the language today will provide more ammunition for his critics, Mr McClellan was looking on the bright side.

“This will just go to disprove those freaky conspiracy theorists who believe Mr Bush wears an earpiece through which some secret team of spin doctors - or aliens - tells him what to say,” Mr McClellan said.

“Otherwise, why would I have walked out on the podium today? There’s no conspiracy here - we make no secret of the fact that we have to tell the President what to say, and we do it up front and in the face of the public each and every day.”

Mr Bush’s change of tack also forced speechwriters for failed Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry to rapidly rework a planned address in which Senator Kerry was to declare that Mr Bush’s new plan was “the wrong overalls in the wrong size for the wrong place at the wrong time”.

Instead, Senator Kerry said the plan was “not the intelligence overhaul that we really need, which is a frontal lobotomy for the President”.