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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Chris Tryhorn

Boris steals Question Time's Hitchens show

Last night's Question Time was a classic. It was always likely to be when the Hitchens brothers were put around the same table - albeit at opposite far ends of it.

Christopher and Peter didn't speak for four years between 9/11 and the 2005 Hay Festival, and last night there was still evidence of froideur.

On the subject of the Iraq war, Christopher remains an admirer of Blair and Bush, while Peter is pretty much against any of Blair's works (and David Cameron's for that matter).

"They didn't have a noble motive, they were just foolish," said Peter of the Iraq adventure. "Arrant nonsense!" murmured Christopher. "But true," rejoined Peter.

Later, on the subject of Afghanistan, this was Christopher's assessment of his brother's views: "It's awful to hear a member of the Hitchens family sounding like Harold Pinter on a bad day."

Great stuff, and to be enjoyed alongside Christopher's feud with Shirley Williams over Salman Rushdie's knighthood.

But it was all overshadowed by Boris Johnson, who confirmed his status as the funniest politician in England by a country mile.

On the Salman Rushdie question, he was priceless. "I object to the knighthood on purely literary grounds. His novels are more or less impenetrable. What about John Le Carre or Martin Amis? Or Dick Francis - has he got a knighthood yet? He has a far better grasp of pace, character and plot than Rushdie."

For the record, Dick Francis hasn't got one (just a CBE) and full marks to Boris's additional suggestion that George MacDonald Fraser, author of the wonderful Flashman novels, should be knighted.

Enjoy it in full here, or try this YouTube edit.

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