Emily Thornberry accuses presenter of 'sexism' over 'pub quiz' TV grilling

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry Credit: PA

Emily Thornberry has accused a TV presenter of "sexism" and of "pub quizzing" her after he repeatedly asked the shadow foreign secretary to name the French foreign minister and she was unable to.

The Labour MP clashed with Sky News presenter Dermot Murnaghan when he asked her if she had taken part in any Brexit talks with her would-be counterparts in Germany and France.

Ms Thornberry was then asked if she knew the name of the French foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, to which she replied: "Don't start pub quizzing me, Dermot. Don't start pub quizzing me."

The Islington South and Finsbury MP was then asked again if she could name the minister, and said: "No and I'm not going to start answering your questions on this."

Before asking: "I mean honestly. Can we talk about some serious stuff?"

Ms Thornberry suggested that Mr Murnaghan might wish to ask her about the situation in North Korea or Syria.

The MP was later asked if she knew who the South Korean president (Park Geun-hye) was, and if she knew their gender.

An increasingly frustrated Ms Thornberry said: "If you want me to go with you to a pub tonight and we can do a pub quiz tonight, let's do it."

Mr Murnaghan then went on to ask Ms Thornberry about anti-Semitism within the Labour Party.

She said Labour is committed to tackling the issue, as well as racism and sexism, whenever it occurs.

Ms Thornberry continued: "There is always more to be done and do you know what, there is certainly a lot more to be done by the Tories and I certainly think sometimes when it comes to sexism, some Sky presenters need to look at themselves too.

"I really do. It really upsets me that every time I come on here, you do another pub quiz with me because you do not do it with anybody else and I do think that it's patronising."

Mr Murnaghan replied: "It's not, because you are the shadow foreign secretary and this was about the French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault who Boris Johnson has met now several times."