President Bush believes he knows why a recession is looming in America and economic turmoil has spread across the globe: Wall Street “got drunk and now it's got a hangover” .

The comment was made at a political fundraiser in Houston last Friday after asking members of the audience to turn off their video cameras. One guest ignored his request and recorded the speech on a mobile phone. A clip was posted yesterday on YouTube.

“There is no question about it. Wall Street got drunk,” Mr Bush said. “That’s one reason I asked you to turn off your TV cameras.” “The question is, how long will it [take to] sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments?," he asked.

A White House spokeswoman said: “He has said before that Wall Street was dealing with very complex financial instruments and that the markets didn’t fully understand the risks that those instruments posed to the system.

“It is certainly a more colourful way of saying what he said before, but he’s described it that way before in terms of his observations of what happened to the market,” she said.

The clip shows Mr Bush joking with a friendly crowd and contemplating life when he leaves the White House in January. “We’ve got a housing issue,” he said. “Not in Houston, evidently not in Dallas, because Laura’s over there trying to buy a house today.”

The President explained that his wife no longer wished to live in Crawford, Texas, and preferred Dallas where the Bush presidential library will be located.

“I like Crawford; unfortunately after eight years of asking her to sacrifice, I am no longer the decision maker,” he said.

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive