Newsnight host Victoria Derbyshire had little time for a ludicrous claim from an ex-Trump ambassador about free speech in the UK and Russia.
During an appearance on Newsnight, former US ambassador to Denmark Carla Sands was challenged about JD Vance’s recent comments accusing European nations of suppressing free speech.
Derbyshire asked Sands whether she saw the hypocrisy in Vance saying this whilst at the same time “cuddling up” to Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Sands, who is now the vice-president of the America First Policy Institute, then interrupted with the ludicrous claim that more people were in jail in the UK for free speech than in Russia, prompting a bemused Derbyshire to challenge Sands on her source for the stat.
She said: “I just have to interrupt you and just say that there are more people in jail in the UK because they spoke what they thought was right… than there are in all of Russia.”
Barely able to contain her laughter at Sands’ claim, Derbyshire responded: “My goodness, I don’t know where you’ve got that from.”
She added that one of the other guests on the show was “laughing their head off” at the claim.
The exchange got plenty of reaction online, including from former Newsnight correspondent Lewis Goodall.
He described people like Sands as “radicalised, insane, plain stupid or some combination of all three.”
Meanwhile, Rory Stewart simply shared the clip with the caption: “Come on.”
Related: ‘Threat to free speech bigger in US than Europe, and Trump is to blame’ – Lord Sumption