Have I Got News For You

David Mitchell guest presents the eighth episode - his 13th time in the host's chair. The guests are Richard Coles and Janey Godley.

This episode came in the week that saw Dominic Cummings give evidence at the Commons Select Committee, a Ryanair flight being diverted and forces to land by the President of Belarus, further questions being asked of Martin Bashir's behaviour in securing his Panorama interview with Princess Diana, and a reported decline in kilt weaving across the country.

Attention was first paid to Boris Johnson's former senior advisor Dominic Cummings' appearance to give evidence to the Commons Select Committee this week, and the series of stunning claims he made about the competency of the Prime Minister and his team. Ian Hislop was quick to condemn Cummings and point out that, given his track record, everything he said may not have been to be believed.

"Dominic Cummings has been giving evidence, 7 hours' worth I believe. He made lots of powerful statements and somebody's lying, somewhere in the middle of all this. Not everybody is telling the truth. He's made various accusations and Boris and Matt Hancock have denied them," said Paul Merton.

"It's good that we've got David on tonight, because it's an episode of Would I Lie To You?," joked Hislop, continuing, "And the answer is, for everyone... yes they did. He said 'Boris Johnson is not fit to be Prime Minister'. Of course he isn't, he appointed you! That doesn't take 8 hours, does it?"

Hislop went on to say that Cummings' appearance had been one of the most 'disgusting' performances in public life that he could remember.

"He did that classic thing at the start of saying it's all everybody else's fault. Would you believe it? The government has really handled this very badly... if only there'd been someone at the heart of government who could have said 'this whole thing is going wrong'. Maybe an advisor... maybe a senior advisor... It was one of the most disgusting performances in public life that I can remember," said Hislop.

"Assuming we can believe a word the devious b*****d says, who is to blame for everything?" asked host David Mitchell.

"The Prime Minister is to blame for everything, and the Prime Minister should never have become Prime Minister. Except, this is the man who almost single-handedly worked to make him Prime Minister," replied Hislop.

"It's absolutely extraordinary that he only noticed that the Prime Minister was utterly useless when he was sacked. It just didn't occur to him the whole time he was on board with the project, and then suddenly, 'oh my goodness, I've suddenly realised... you're an idiot, and so am I!'" joked Hislop.