Rifkind: Jury is out on whether Boris should keep his job

BORIS Johnson has no intention of apologising for his controversial comments on Saudi Arabia – as one of his predecessors claimed the ‘jury is out’ on whether he should keep his job.

The Foreign Secretary touched down in the Middle East last night days after footage emerged of him accusing the British ally of being behind ‘proxy wars’.

He was slapped down by Downing Street over his comments, with No10 saying his views did not represent Government policy. And in a pointed intervention, Tory grandee Sir Malcolm Rifkind, who served as Foreign Secretary under John Major, said Theresa May’s appointment of Mr Johnson had been a ‘gamble’ and he may be more comfortable in another Cabinet role.

But Mr Johnson received backing from Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader, who said he had been ‘absolutely right’ in what he said. The Foreign Secretary delivered a keynote speech at a security conference in Bahrain last night – a speech which was vetted by No 10 to ensure he did not

‘Stop sniping from the sidelines’

make any more gaffes. No mention was made of Saudi Arabia, a country he will visit tomorrow.

But he did speak about humanitarian suffering in Yemen, saying he knew his audience ‘share my concern’. Saudi Arabia has been accused of war abuses in Yemen.

It is understand Mr Johnson has told friends he has no intention of apologising to the Saudis. One said he would be ‘open, honest and moral in his approach’.

He added: ‘Mr Rifkind wasn’t exactly the best foreign secretary this country has ever had and should go back to whatever he is doing these days and stop sniping from the sidelines.’

The Guardian published footage of Mr Johnson’s comments at a conference in Rome last week, in which he lumped Saudi Arabia in with Iran when he raised concerns about ‘puppeteering’ in the region.

Mr Johnson said there were not enough ‘big characters’ in the region who were willing to ‘reach out beyond their Sunni or Shia’ group. He added: ‘That’s why you’ve got the Saudis, Iran, everybody, moving in and puppeteering and playing proxy wars.’

Sir Malcolm told the BBC: ‘As a Foreign Secretary you can’t be a celebrity. Harold Macmillan was once Foreign Secretary and in his memoirs he said foreign ministers are either dull or dangerous – well, Boris certainly isn’t dull.’

Asked if Mr Johnson was fit to be Foreign Secretary, Sir Malcolm said: ‘The jury’s out, if I can put it that way. This is early days.’

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