UK ministers back Johnson in Iran case
Opposition Labour leader Corbyn called on prime minister to sack foreign secretary
British ministers rallied around Boris Johnson yesterday, saying the foreign secretary was doing a “great job” and had no reason to resign over remarks that critics say may prompt Iran to extend the prison sentence of a jailed aid worker.
The coordinated defence is part of attempts to shore up the government of Prime Minister Theresa May, weakened by a series of scandals and gaffes involving her top team of ministers as she negotiates Britain’s departure from the European Union.
The leader of Britain’s main opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, called on May to sack Johnson, writing in the
newspaper yesterday that “we’ve put up with him embarrassing and undermining our country through his incompetence ... for long enough. It’s time for Boris Johnson to go”.
Corbyn, and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, also a Labour member, said Johnson had offended states and religions before “bungling” the case of Iranian-British aid worker Nazanin ZaghariRatcliffe, in prison after being convicted of plotting to overthrow Iran’s clerical establishment. She denies the charges.
But two of his allies, Brexit minister David Davis and environment minister Michael Gove, defended Johnson, who last week said he could have been clearer in his remark that Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been teaching people journalism before her arrest in April 2016.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s employer, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, a charity organisation, said Johnson’s comment made on November 1 was incorrect, while opposition British lawmakers said the remarks could land the aid worker a longer term in jail.
“Why would you want to sack him? He’s a good foreign secretary,” Davis told Sky News.
Gove urged critics to stop focusing on Johnson’s role in the case and instead to question the motivation of what he called “the Iranian regime” in jailing Zaghari-Ratcliffe.