In response, the former prime minister decided to close his book Unleashed – a decision he repeated repeatedly throughout the interview, much to the apparent exasperation of others around the table.

“So here I obviously deeply disagree, as I detail in detail in Unleashed the book…” laughing as Maitlis chimed in to say: “I don’t know why that’s funny.” I don’t know why it’s funny. You just heard what his character is like, and I ask you…’

“I don’t accept your analogy at all, I think it’s very dangerous and sloppy to make analogies between the US and the UK in this way,” he then responded.

Guru-Murthy, 54, jumped in to ask Johnson if he had taken inspiration from Trump, leading the former London mayor to bring up Brexit, saying: “I think people are comparing Brexit to the advent of Donald Trump. Brexit has actually been supported by people across the political spectrum.

“You’re not answering the question. Just come back to the question,” Maitlis urged, prompting him to assert that he was “directly answering the question.”

After talking more about Brexit – leading Maitlis to question why he did so – Johnson then spoke about his own experience interacting with Trump, saying he found the US president “courteous” and “polite “.

Maitlis retorted: “He denied an election he lost. What does it matter if he is civil if he cannot accept the results of democracy and the American voter?

Johnson revealed he spoke to Trump recently, “shortly after he was shot,” before Maitlis asked their guest if Trump’s election victory might inspire him to make his own “comeback policy”.

Again, Johnson referred to her book by responding: “Emily, the answer is obviously contained in Unleashed, where you will find the complete discussion of this subject.”

“We’re not all going to read your book,” Maitlis said.

‘Why not?!’ » asked Johnson.

Maitlis then asked again: “Do you want to make a political comeback?” »

Johnson responded: “Really, I think the only circumstances you should get into politics is if you think you can be…I don’t know why we’re talking about me, we should be talking about elections American for heaven’s sake. . It’s much more interesting. Why are we talking about me?

Without holding back, Maitlis said: “You can’t actually answer a single question,” to which Johnson replied: “Sorry, the answer is you shouldn’t do it unless you think you can be useful. And by the way Emily, I answered all your questions all night.

Hours later, in the early hours of the morning, Channel 4’s election coverage revealed that it was very likely that the next US president would be Trump.

At this point, it was just Guru-Murthy in the TV studio with several guests, as the former Strictly Come Dancing star told the channel’s viewers: “I’ll report him to Emily later, because I know she started swearing, but… it might be the middle of the night in Britain, but they’re still a little sensitive about it.