He didn`t go in all guns blazing, as he knew he`d get canned, so went with a tactical approach.
He`d done a load of research and had a dossier of " hard questions " which he introduced once all the "nicey nicey " inconsequential stuff had been dealt with.
He used to be one of the International Marketing Managers for a global firm, so he was more than used to the environment and the tactics used in meetings to deflect etc.
In a nut shell all of his hard questions were batted away as " not being the right time or the right place " and he was taken off the panel / replaced.