Boris Johnson (pictured today in Manchester) last night claimed a Libyan city could be the next ‘Dubai’ for tourists once they ‘clear the dead bodies away’
Tory MPs have demanded Boris Johnson is sacked for comments claiming Libya could be a tourist destination if it ‘clears away dead bodies’.
The Foreign Secretary shocked guests at a conference fringe event last night by making the off-colour joke about the war-torn country.
Despite a backlash, he doubled down on the comments in a late-night Twitter rant by insisting he was making a serious point about ISIS fighters making it tougher to clear areas by laying booby traps.
But several Tory MPs have demanded the Foreign Secretary is sacked for making the crass joke.
The row risks overshadowing Theresa May’s speech at the Tory Party conference later this morning.
The PM’s deputy said it was not an ‘acceptable’ or ‘sensitive’ use of language.
Heidi Allen, Conservative MP for South Cambridgeshire, last night branded the original remark ‘100 per cent unacceptable’ and insisted ‘Boris must be sacked for this.
‘He does not represent my party’.
And Sarah Wollaston, Tory MP for Totnes, said Mr Jonson should ‘consider his position’.
She told BBC Radio Four’s Today Programme: ‘I think these remarks were crass, poorly judged and grossly insensitive.
‘And this is from the person who is representing us on the world stage. I think it is really disappointing.’
She added: ‘He should unequivocally apologise, not try to justify those remarks. I think he should consider his position.’
But in a series of tweets late last night, Mr Johnson accused his critics of playing politics.
He said: ‘Shame people with no knowledge or understanding of Libya want to play politics with the appallingly dangerous reality in Sirte.
‘The reality there is that the clearing of corpses of Daesh fighters has been made much more difficult by IEDs and booby traps.
‘That’s why Britain is playing a key role in reconstruction and why I have visited Libya twice this year in support.’
Ms Allen’s intervention came before the Foreign Secretary’s clarification. She was backed by ex-Tory minister Anna Soubry.
Damian Green, the First Secretary of State and Mrs May’s de facto number two, today said Mr Johnson’s language was not ‘sensitive’.
But, in a round of broadcast interviews, he said the Foreign Secretary was a genuine expert on Libya after his recent visit.
Mr Johnson’s remark came as he was asked by an activist what he really thought of war-torn Libya after his recent high profile visit to the North African country.
Libya has descended into chaos since a British and allied air campaign supported a rebel uprising against Colonel Qaddafi in 2011.
Mr Johnson has doubled down on his claim Libya will be a tourist destination if it ‘clears away dead bodies’ in a later night Twitter tirade (pictured)
At last night’s meeting, Mr Johnson said: ‘It’s an incredible country, beautiful white sands, beautiful seas, Caesars Palace – the real one – incredible place.
‘It’s got real potential. Young people who want to do all sorts of tech stuff. There is a group of UK business people, wonderful guys, who want to invest in Sirte on the coast, near where Qaddafi was captured.
‘They literally have a vision to turn Sirte into the next Dubai – the only thing they have got to do is clear the dead bodies away and then they will be there.’
The room burst into nervous laughter at Mr Johnson’s remark, which came at the end of an hour long meeting.
The host intervened to say ‘next question’.
The Foreign Secretary said there was an ‘optimism’ in Libya and offered a strong endorsement for the country’s current leadership.
The Foreign Secretary’s new diplomatic gaffe came on the fringes of the Tory conference in Manchester (Mr Johnson is pictured with aides in Manchester today)
Dr Wollaston took to Twitter last night to slam the Foreign Secretary for the comment.
She wrote: ‘Demeaning jokes about real people murdered in Libya would be crass even from a stand up; appalled to hear this from our Foreign Secretary.’
Mr Johnson’s opposite number, Labour’s Emily Thornberry, said: ‘It is less than a year since Sirte was finally captured from Daesh by the Libyan Government of National Accord, a battle in which hundreds of government soldiers were killed and thousands of civilians were caught in the crossfire, the second time in five years that the city had seen massive loss of life as a result of the Libyan civil war.
‘For Boris Johnson to treat those deaths as a joke – a mere inconvenience before UK business people can turn the city into a beach resort – is unbelievably crass, callous and cruel.
‘If these words came from the business people themselves, it would be considered offensive enough, but for them to come from the Foreign Secretary is simply a disgrace.
‘There comes a time when the buffoonery needs to stop, because if Boris Johnson thinks the bodies of those brave government soldiers and innocent civilians killed in Sirte are a suitable subject for throwaway humour, he does not belong in the office of Foreign Secretary.’
The latest gaffe is just the most recent in many years of off-colour remarks that have left many questioning Mr Johnson’s suitability to be Foreign Secretary.
Mr Johnson’s off-colour jibe was greeted by nervous laughter at the meeting in the Midland Hotel and came hours after his main speech to the conference (pictured)
Earlier this week, he was accused of ‘incredible insensitivity’ after reciting part of a colonial-era Rudyard Kipling poem about a British soldier kissing a Burmese girl to Myanmar dignitaries.
In July, he likened a traditional Maori greeting to a headbutt while visiting indigenous leaders in New Zealand.
He once said of the Tory Party that it had ‘become used to Papua New Guinea-style orgies of cannibalism and chief-killing’.
An apology was swiftly issued, with Mr Johnson saying: ‘I mean no insult to the people of Papua New Guinea who I’m sure lead lives of blameless bourgeois domesticity in common with the rest of us. Add Papua New Guinea to my global itinerary of apologies.’
And in 2004, the then Tory leader Michael Howard ordered Boris to make a penitential visit to Liverpool after an editorial was published in the Spectator that insulted Liverpudlians several times over.
Boris called the trip ‘Operation Scouse Grovel’.