MPS call on Johnson to apologise for saying victims ‘weren’t exactly angels’
BORIS Johnson has been called on to apologise for saying Srebrenica victims “weren’t exactly angels”.
The Prime Minister made the comments in a column he wrote for the Spectator Magazine more than two decades ago.
Now dozens of MPS have called on Mr Johnson to “urgently apologise” for the remarks on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the massacre.
A joint letter has been sent to the PM by Tony Lloyd, Labour MP for Rochdale, signed by 32 MPS – half of whom are Scottish.
They include the SNP’S Stewart Mcdonald, Carol Monaghan, Alyn
Smith, John Nicolson and Philippa Whitford, as well as Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine.
The comment was penned as part of a response to Nicaraguan actress and human rights activist Bianca Jagger, who wrote an essay accusing Western countries of collaborating in Bosnian Serb atrocities against Muslims.
He also said: “Sometimes there are causes where there is no room for cynicism, and where frankly it is immaterial how much she is driven by moral outrage and how much by the desire to burnish her halo.”
The MPS’ letter states: “Dear Boris, We call upon you to urgently apologise for the comments you made in the Spectator in 1997 regarding the Srebrenica genocide.
“In July 1995, 8,000 Muslim men and boys were rounded up from what was supposed to be a ‘safe enclave’ of Srebrenica protected by Dutch UN peacekeepers. They were taken away by Serbian forces and murdered.
“In 1997, when you were a political columnist for the Spectator, you wrote an article challenging Bianca Jagger’s support for more direct intervention against the Serbian Army in the Bosnian war.
“You wrote ‘Alright, I say, the fate of Srebrenica was appalling. But they weren’t exactly angels, these Muslims’.”
The MPS added that it was “unthinkable” the Prime Minster would “attend national memorial events without having apologised” and continued: “There can be no excuse for in any way blaming the victims of a genocide for its perpetration, not even for a Prime Minister.”
The politicians went further, saying Mr Johnson had a “long and significant history of racist, Islamophobic and prejudicial statements” and added: “your comments about Srebrenica cannot be seen as an isolated incident.”
A Downing Street spokesman said the MPS were wrong to suggest the Prime Minister did not acknowledge the severity of the genocide.
He said: “This quote is clearly taken out of context.
“The Prime Minister has, over the last 25 years, consistently condemned the Srebrenica genocide as one of the worst crimes in history.”
Mr Johnson’s article, dug out by investigative journalist Iggy Ostanin, caused huge debate on both sides when it was highlighted by Mr Ostanin last month.