The Prime Minister has defended himself after being accused of lying about claims he had never used the phrase ‘Shanghai Sam’.

At a press conference today, Scott Morrison was asked to explain why he thinks it’s racist to question Gladys Liu’s connection to China, but it wasn’t racist for him to call Sam Dastyari ‘Shanghai Sam’.

He responded by saying he “didn’t use either of those phrases”.

But it’s been discovered he said ‘Shanghai Sam’ multiple times in two previous interviews with Ben Fordham.

PM @ScottMorrisonMP denies calling @samdastyari ‘Shanghai’ Sam. “I didn’t use either of those phrases.”

Except he did. In 2017 on @BenFordham “‘Shanghai’ Sam, who I have also christened today as ‘Last Chance’ Sam, has had his last chance…” he also repeated it on Sky #auspol

— Jonathan Lea (@JonathanLea10) September 13, 2019

But Scott Morrison has defended himself, telling Ben when he answered the question he was referring to using the term ‘racist’, not ‘Shanghai Sam’.

“This is just another one of those silly little games that comes out of Canberra.

“I was standing in the middle of an oval and your hearing doesn’t always pick up the precise wording of all the questions that come.

“Of course I remember using that phrase.”

Click PLAY below to hear the full interview

Image: Getty/Tracey Nearmy