Jo Brand silences all-male Have I Got News For You panel over House of Commons sexual harassment comments

Jo Brand last night silenced an all-male panel on Have I Got News For You when she explained why sexual harassment of any nature – or the trivialising of it – is unacceptable. 

When team captain Ian Hislop suggested that some of the allegations currently coming out of Westminster were not "high-level crime", comedian Brand issued a sharp rebuke.

"If I can just say, as the only representative of the female gender here today, I know it’s not high-level," she said. "But it doesn’t have to be high-level for women to feel under siege in somewhere like the House of Commons.

"Actually [for] women, if you're constantly being harassed, even in a small way, that builds up and that wears you down."

Brand then added: "Sorry, I thought I was on Question Time for a minute."

Hislop responded: "As you point out, with four blokes sitting around you, we're hardly in a position to say, 'That's rubbish'."

Later, panelist and Daily Mail journalist Quentin Letts referred to Julia Hartley-Brewer, who recently revealed that Michael Fallon once put his hand on her knee, as a "girl". Brand quickly corrected Letts, suggesting "woman" would have been a more appropriate word.

Viewers soon took to social media to voice their support for Brand.