Black continues attack on Paxman

Disgraced peer Conrad Black has taken another swipe at Newsnight anchor Jeremy Paxman, branding him an "an a**hole".

The abrasive former media mogul appeared on satirical panel show Have I Got News For You?, where he continued his assault on Paxman.

On Monday Black branded him a "priggish, gullible, British fool" and said he was proud he had endured their tense exchange without "getting up and smashing your face in".

And on Thursday night he remained unrepentant, adding: "I like Jeremy, he's just an a**hole."

He was challenged by fellow guest, poker player Victoria Coren, and show regular Ian Hislop - who described the statement as "unbelievable".

But Black continued: "He's a perfectly nice man, I've met him socially many times, he's fine but he has a technique and he is compulsively belligerent and the only way to deal with it, unless he has reason to be so self-righteous, is to be belligerent back to him."

He then dismissed the comment as "an attempt at humour".

Black, former proprietor of the Daily Telegraph, is in the UK to promote his new book A Matter Of Principle and has made a series of defiant television appearances.

He was imprisoned for three years for defrauding investors but, despite being released from a US prison earlier this year, he insisted he had nothing to be ashamed of - even indicating his potential plans to retake his seat in the House of Lords.

Earlier in the week, he branded Sky News' political editor Adam Boulton a "jackass" before telling him: "You don't know what you are talking about."