Pictured: Jeremy Corbyn is calling on Theresa May to sack Boris Johnson
Jeremy Corbyn is calling for Boris Johnson to be sacked from his post immediately as Foreign Secretary for ‘putting citizens at risk’.
The Labour leader has launched a scathing attack on the former Mayor of London and is demanding the Prime Minister fire him with immediate effect.
This comes after Johnson made what has been described as an ‘epic blunder’ in the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British woman currently imprisoned in Iran.
Speaking in Parliament, Johnson said the mother-of-one had been teaching journalists in the middle eastern country – a mistake which could double her prison sentence for offences she has consistently denied.
Now today Corbyn has added to the growing pressure May faces in dealing with Johnson, as members of his own party say his position should be reconsidered.
In a statement delivered to The Observer, Corbyn cites numerous undiplomatic and ill-chosen statements from Johnson since his appointment by May as foreign secretary in July last year.
Corbyn accuses him of having a ‘colonial throwback take on the world’, of repeatedly ‘letting our country down’.
The Labour leader said it was the mishandling of the case of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe that persuaded him to call for his dismissal.
This comes after Johnson made what has been described as an ‘epic blunder’ in the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British woman currently imprisoned in Iran
His statement concludes with: ‘We’ve put up with Johnson embarrassing and undermining our country with his incompetence and colonial throwback views and putting our citizens at risk for long enough. It’s time for him to go.’
Corbyn joins shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry in calls for Johnson to step down.
Last week former Tory minister Anna Soubry said: ‘His words were wholly inaccurate. If they are continuing to damage this woman’s well-being and putting her in more peril of continuing unlawful incarceration, then the Foreign Secretary must step down and he must go immediately.’
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe (pictured with daughter Gabriella) is currently being held in prison in Iran
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s local MP, Tulip Siddiq said the Foreign Secretary’s role was to protect British citizens abroad and that he had ‘failed in the gravest way’. She added: ‘This is about a young mother’s life, and he must now resign.’
Johnson, who spoke to Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif on Tueday, has insisted his remarks have not hampered efforts to free Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Her family have always said that her 2016 visit was for her daughter, Gabriella, to meet her grandparents.
A Foreign Office spokesman told The Evening Standard last week: ‘The Iranian foreign minister assured the Foreign Secretary that his earlier remarks at the Foreign Affairs Committee will have no bearing on Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case and that he remains committed to working with the UK government to secure her release on humanitarian grounds.
‘The Foreign Secretary made clear in Parliament that Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was visiting Iran on holiday and that was the sole purpose of her visit.’
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s family were outraged by the comments, saying they were inaccurate and put her at further risk of extending her jail sentence by five years.
They insist Zaghari-Ratcliffe was on holiday. Her employers say she had not taken part in the training of journalists.
Iranian state-run TV bulletins referred to Johnson’s comments as evidence she was acting illegally. ‘The sole sentence uttered from the mouth of the UK foreign secretary put the efforts of the British media [propaganda] in vain,’ said one.
This debacle comes at a bad time for the Prime Minster who is already smarting frm being forced to dismiss defence secretary Sir Michael Fallon for inappropriate behaviour and then losing Priti Patel as international development secretary.
Patel stepped down after it was revealed she had conducted trips to the Middle East without informing Number 10 or the Foreign Office.