Boris Johnson fled an interview on Sky News after being ambushed with a “pub quiz”.
The Foreign Secretary was caught off-guard when Dermot Murnaghan asked him to name the South Korean President.
The Murnaghan program presenter played a similar game when Shadow Foreign Sectary Emily Thornberry was unable to name the French Foreign Minister, and the South Korean President, when questioned.
Johnson initially played along when asked about his French counterpart. He said:
“If you want to have a pub quiz Dermot I’ll be very happy to meet you in the pub but the French foreign minister is mon amie Jean-Marc Ayrault, I know him very well.”
But Johnson appeared to have had enough by the second question - which, again, stumped Thornberry in September. He said:
“We are not getting into a, er, a pub quiz about leaders around, er, leaders around the world.
“And I will, I’m going to in great respect invite you out to the pub, Dermot, so that we can take these conversations further.
“I have a terrible feeling if I keep answering you, you will keep coming back with more.
“Have a good morning. See you!”
At the time of her grilling, the Labour MP accused the presenter of “sexism” and snapped: “Don’t start pub-quizzing me, Dermot.”
Thornberry was discussing plans to visit France and Germany when she was asked about whether she knew the French Foreign Minister’s name.
“Well, he’s the French Foreign Minister, do you know his name?” he asked. “No”, she replied. “And I’m not going to start answering your questions on this.”