Michael Fabricant’s appearance on Have I Got News For You didn’t go down well (Picture: BBC)

Conservative MP Michael Fabricant has received a rather hostile reaction from viewers after appearing on BBC news quiz show Have I Got News For You.

The Tory vice-chairman for parliamentary campaigning appeared on the show alongside poet John Cooper Clarke, guest host Jo Brand and team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton, but failed to win over HIGNFY fans.

Fabricant had tried to manage expectations before his appearance on the satirical show, writing on Twitter earlier: ‘If I appear awful on #HIGNFY , it’s because all the good bits were cut out of the 2 hour recording. That’s my story and I am sticking to it.’



He attracted controversy early on in the broadcast after a segment focussing on proposals to ask landlords to help ascertain the legal status of foreign tenants, with Fabricant saying of the stars of classic show Rising Damp: ‘They look foreign to me.’


Jo Brand had hosted the show (Picture: BBC)

He declined to elaborate, perhaps realising the comments would not be well received.

@PoorgeoisSteve said of the gaffe: ‘The whole #HIGNFY audience just fell silent as Michael Fabricant dropped a massive racist bombshell two minutes in. Oh dear.’

His bizarre comments on the show even prompted Paul Merton to ask if he was real, while one Twitter viewer wrote: ‘I’m almost certain that @Mike_Fabricant is a Harry Enfield character. #HIGNFY.’

Another added: ‘John Cooper Clarke has taken more drugs than the entire Glasto crowd but is still more coherent than Michael Fabricant.’

But this isn’t the first time the Member of Parliament for Lichfield has found himself in hot water.

Fabricant previously sparked controversy after referring to a sex act on Twitter, asking: ‘Why is it not called a Suck Job?’