With John McCain announcing that he is suspending his campaign and pulling out of the debate tomorrow night, Henry Farrell at Crooked Timber is reminded of a famous episode of BBC4′s “Have I Got News For You” where the Right Honourable Roy Hattersley fails to show up for the third time and is thus replaced with a tub of lard.

I wasn’t familiar with HIGNFY until I watched that clip this morning, but I was fascinated to learn that Boris Johnson has made many memorable appearances on the show, including several episodes where he served as a guest host. Apparently he even won a BAFTA in 2003 for work like this episode, where it appears he’s either having trouble with the teleprompter, or is stuck in some kind of time warp.