Resurfaced video shows Ian Hislop schooling Priti Patel on death penalty

Debating the reintroduction of capital punishment on Question Time, Hislop said: “For 50 years, Private Eye has pretty much has in most issues exposed a miscarriage of justice and a lot of them have been murders.

“Over the years, a large number of these cases have been found to be entirely wrong and many of the men and women convicted have been found innocent.

“We would have killed those people and in some cases very high-profile cases involving terrorism cases, we would have made very dangerous new martyrs by executing people who turned out not to have committed the murders involved.

“On a purely practical basis, whatever you think it says about the civilised nature of your society or not, I think it would be incredibly dangerous to have capital punishment back.”

Asked if she agreed, Patel said: “I’m not, on the basis, that this is really about our criminal justice system and for any conviction, for example, you need ultimate burden of proof and that means -“

Hislop replied: “Are you saying they were guilty, all these people?”

Patel said: “No, I’m not saying they were guilty, obviously.

“The point is, it’s about having deterrents. If you have strong deterrents –“

At this point Hislop once more interrupted with a strong point: “It’s not a deterrent killing the wrong people?”

@Haggis_UK, which posted the clip on Twitter, wrote : “Always worth retweeting Ian Hislop schooling Priti Patel on the death penalty.”

One user called Patel “thick as mince” while another said she was “out of her depth in a summer puddle”.

Patel’s reactions to human rights issues has caused controversy in the past.

Earlier this year, her department was accused of posting a 21-second clip which blamed the EU and “activist lawyers” for migrant crossing crisis.

The Home Office swiftly removed the video without explanation.