The mystery of the vodka-drinking contest

Which of these two would win in a drinking contest?

Our man in Kiev ended up in Tallinn in his search for the truth

Terry McAuliffe, who chairs the Hillary Clinton for President committee, recently told the BBC that John McCain and Hillary Clinton had once indulged in a shot-drinking contest in Ukraine.

We wanted to know if and when these American presidential hopefuls had been knocking back the vodkas together, so we set our Kiev correspondent, Gabriel Gatehouse, on the trail.

He discovered the contest had not, in fact, taken place in Ukraine, but in Estonia in 2004, when the two senators had been part of a congressional delegation to the capital, Tallinn.

Senator McCain has in the past denied having a drinking contest with Hillary Clinton, although a spokesman has been quoted as saying they had a few drinks together.

And no one else seemed particularly keen to talk about it...

Listen Listen to Gabriel Gatehouse's investigation (4 mins 44 secs)

First broadcast 17 May 2008