Dominic Raab gets Sinn Fein leader’s name wrong twice

The ex-Cabinet minister told the NI Affairs Committte he had met with the leaders of all main political parties in Northern Ireland during his time as Brexit secretary, including Sinn Fein’s “Mary Lou Donaldson”.

Perhaps Mr Raab was confusing Ms McDonald with DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson. Whatever the case, and despite making the gaffe twice, none of the MPs on the panel chose to correct him – or maybe they didn’t notice.

However, he was commended for being a “clear and concise” witness.

Mr Raab was not the only person in the room to make a blunder, as DUP MP Jim Shannon referred to Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney as “Stephen Coveney”.

Elsewhere, Mr Raab joked that the Belfast Agreement was not like a “cracking read” you would sit down with on your holidays.

He was responding to a question by North Down MP Lady Sylvia Hermon, who asked if he had read the treaty in its entirety.

He replied: “I haven’t sat down and started from the beginning and gone through it.

“Of course at various points of negotiations it was important to delve in and read different aspects. I have used it as a reference tool.

“It’s not like a novel where you sit down and think ‘you know what, over the holidays this is a cracking read’.

“But it is an absolutely vital constitutional document.”