Stephen Fry appeared to make a dig at Donald Trump as he hosted the 70th British Academy Film Awards.

Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry

The 59-year-old presenter was praising Meryl Streep - who Trump recently branded "overrated" - when he quipped that only a "blithering idiot" would think she wasn't one of the greatest actresses all time.

In his opening speech, he said: "She's one of the greatest actresses of all time - only a blithering idiot would think otherwise."

He then walked down the steps towards the nominees and the audience that had packed into London's Royal Albert Hall, where he said: "Ms. Streep, it's tradition here for me to garner a kiss from one of the nominees every year."

Meryl happily placed a kiss on Stephen, telling him she was "so thrilled", before he made his way back onstage.

He said: "Never in the field of conflict has my left cheek been so jealous of my right. Underrated is what I'd say."

In her speech at the Golden Globes, Meryl slammed the US president and spoke of the importance of diversity.

She said: "Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners, and if you kick us all out, you'll have nothing to watch except for football and mixed martial arts, which are not arts. But who are we, and what is Hollywood anyway? It's just a bunch of people from other places ...

"This instinct to humiliate, when it's modelled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody's life, because it kinda gives permission for other people to do the same thing. Disrespect invites disrespect, violence incites violence. And when the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose."

Her passionate speech was met with much praise from a number of celebrities including Viola Davis, Ellen DeGeneres and Zoe Saldana.

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