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Full interview: Ben Shapiro vs Andrew Neil

Ben Shapiro is the famous, fast-talking conservative pundit who regularly ‘owns’ aggressive university students with his quick wit and rapid repartee in America.

Alas, Shapiro isn’t so ‘crazy smart’ when he comes up against difficult questions from a real interviewer. Yesterday he just couldn’t cope with an interrogation from the BBC’s Andrew Neil. He decided that Neil must be a typical BBC leftist (complaining at one point that he’d never heard of him) and had an epic tantrum, before storming out of the studio.

He then realised his blunder, and that he’d confused rigorous questioning with “political Leftism” and was about to become a laughing stock. He then sought to use Twitter to row back…

Mr S wonders though if American pundits are far less used to robust interrogations…

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Steerpike
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Steerpike

Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

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