Dominic Raab and Labour's Andy McDonald caught going toe to toe during fiery clash over racism

Pair appear to square up on live TV following robust exchange of views

It is not necessarily an unusual sight on a late Friday night in Sheffield: two blokes with too much to say squaring up to each other.

Nonetheless, perhaps no-one expected the two men in question to be foreign secretary Dominic Raab and veteran MP Andy McDonald.

The pair went toe to toe shortly after the BBC’s live general election Question Time show finished recording in the South Yorkshire city.

As the backstage spin room went into full spin mode, the couple were caught on camera having what might euphemistically be called a robust exchange of views.

It came after they had taken part in a Sky News interview together following the main show in which party leaders had been grilled by a live audience.

But as reporter Kate McCann concluded the piece and prepared to hand back to studio, the two men could be seen, as the parlance goes, “getting into each other’s personal space”.

Their bone of contention appeared to be the respective levels of racism in each other’s parties – “this is looking like a very tense exchange,” said presenter Niall Paterson, watching on. “Let’s just listen in.”

“Listen to Baroness Warsi,” Mr McDonald, current Labour candidate for Middlesbrough, can be heard saying as the stand-off unfolds. “She's telling you what to do about it [Islamophobia]. You should be doing it.”

In response, Mr Raab raises Labour's own record on antisemitism. “Two parties in this country's history have been investigated by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission,” he says. “Labour under Corbyn, and the BNP.”

Dominic Raab and Andy McDonald share a robust exchange of views (Sky News / screengrab)

And then, all too soon, it was over.

The foreign secretary – puce with fury – walked away with a minder guiding him from the room.