Outgoing Czech Prime Minister Jiri Rusnok said he was hoping to shun the funeral of anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela next week, in comments he didn't realise were being recorded that went viral on Saturday.
Talking to Defence Minister Vlastimil Picek, his neighbour in parliament on Friday, Rusnok said "I hope the president will go instead. The idea of going gives me the shivers."
The prime minister, who had sent condolences to South Africa earlier expressing "profound grief" over Mandela's death, called the trip "one hell of a distance" before conceding: "I guess he (President) won't fly so I'm fucked."