Boris Johnson slammed for Libya 'dead bodies' comment

Boris Johnson backed PM Theresa May yesterday, but has found himself in hot water this morning over comments he made about Libya.

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The Foreign Secretary is facing calls for his sacking over the comments on the fringes of the Conservative conference.

Damian Green, the de facto deputy prime minister, rebuked Mr Johnson and said his comments were "unacceptable".

He told Sky News: "Everyone, including Boris, needs to be careful in their use of language."

As the First Secretary of State toured the television and radio studios to talk about Prime Minister Theresa May's conference speech, he faced repeated questions about Mr Johnson's remarks.

He told BBC 5 Live Breakfast: "Let me be clear it was not an acceptable use of ... it was not a sensitive use of language."

Tory former minister Anna Soubry said Mr Johnson is "embarrassing & PM should sack him".

Heidi Allen, a Tory MP who represents South Cambridgeshire, tweeted: "100% unacceptable from anyone, let alone foreign sec. Boris must be sacked for this. He does not represent my party."

Tory MP Sarah Wollaston told BBC Radio 4's Today: "Well I think these remarks were crass, poorly judged, grossly insensitive and this is from the person who is representing us on the world stage, I think this is really disappointing."

She added: "Of course he should unequivocally apologise, not sort of try to justify those kinds of remarks and the way in which it was said.

"I think he should consider his position."

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said the remarks were "unbelievably crass, callous and cruel".

Mr Johnson was made to "move on" after he told Tory activists that investors want to transform the coastal city of Sirte, where dictator Muammar Gaddafi was killed during the 2011 civil war, into a new version of the emirate.

But when he said their only obstacle is to "clear the dead bodies away", the host of the conference fringe event stepped in.

As Mr Johnson continued to speak, Baroness Stroud, a former special adviser to ex-Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith, said: "Next question."

The Legatum Institute chief executive added: "The dead bodies was the move-on moment."

Mr Johnson had been asked about his recent visit to the country, which has been wracked by violence since the fall of its former leader.

The Foreign Secretary said: "I look at Libya, it's an incredible country.

"Bone white sands, beautiful sea, Caesar's Palace, obviously, you know, the real one.

"Incredible place. It's got a real potential and brilliant young people who want to do all sorts of tech.

"There's a group of UK business people, actually, some wonderful guys who want to invest in Sirte on the coast, near where Gaddafi was captured and executed, as some of you may have seen.

"They have got a brilliant vision to turn Sirte into the next Dubai."

He added: "The only thing they have got to do is clear the dead bodies away," before laughing.

Ms 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."

Mr Johnson defended his comments, saying: "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 (improvised explosive devices) and booby traps."

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Boris Johnson 'united with cabinet' behind Theresa May on Brexit

Johnson used his Tory conference speech yesterday to praise Theresa May and insist the Cabinet is entirely united behind her approach to Brexit.

The Foreign Secretary, whose own "red lines" on Brexit have overshadowed the Conservative Party conference and led to calls for Mrs May to sack him from her Cabinet, paid tribute to the Prime Minister.

Responding to the general election - in which Mrs May lost the Tory majority - Mr Johnson stressed that Labour under Jeremy Corbyn did not win.

He told the conference in Manchester: "You won - we won. Theresa May won.

"She won more votes than any party leader and took this party to its highest share of the vote in any election in the last 25 years - and the whole country owes her a debt for her steadfastness in taking Britain forward as she will to a great Brexit deal.

"Based on that Florence speech on whose every syllable, I can tell you the whole Cabinet is united."

Mr Johnson used his speech to attack Mr Corbyn - "that Nato-bashing, Trident-scrapping, would-be abolisher of the British army" - and the "zombie" ideology of 1970s-style socialism.

But he also strayed beyond his foreign affairs brief, in comments which will bolster speculation about Mr Johnson's leadership ambitions - although he was at pains to point out the actions already being taken by Mrs May's Government.

Setting out the battle against Labour, Mr Johnson told the conference: "We may have the most illustrious battle honours of any political party but now we have to win the battle for the future and the way to win the future is not to attack the market economy, not to junk our gains but to make it work better - make it work better for the low paid - turning the living wage under this Conservative government into a national living wage.

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"Make it work for all those who worry their kids will never find a home to own - building 100s of 1000s of homes.

"Make it work better for parents who can't find good enough childcare - with 30 hours free care for three and four-year olds.

"And above all help people who are struggling, by driving benefit reforms that have helped millions back into the dignity and self-esteem that goes with having a job and which has seen inequality fall - as the Chancellor pointed out yesterday - to the lowest levels for three decades."

Setting out an optimistic vision of the UK's post-Brexit future, Mr Johnson said: "There is a huge desire out there for us to engage with the world more emphatically than ever before.

"And after Brexit that is what our partners are going to get as this country is freed from endlessly trying to block things in Brussels committee rooms. Freed to stop being negative and to start being positive about what we believe in - including free trade.

"And yes we are leaving the EU - but as the PM has said in her Florence speech we can create a deep and special partnership built on free trade with a strong EU buttressed and supported by a strong UK.

"And since it is manifestly absurd to argue that European values or culture or civilisation are somehow defined or delimited by the institutions of the EU, we will be no less European.

"Britain will continue to be European in culture, geography, history, architecture, spiritually, morally, you name it."

The Foreign Secretary said it was time for the "lion" - the British people - to be allowed to "roar" after Brexit.

"We can win the future because we are the party that believes in this country and we believe in the potential of the British people. We have been privileged collectively to be placed in charge of this amazing country at a critical moment in our history.

"We are not the lion.

"We do not claim to be the lion.

"That role is played by the people of this country. But it is up to us now - in the traditional non-threatening, genial and self-deprecating way of the British - to let that lion roar."

Mr Johnson said Mr Corbyn was a "superannuated space cadet from Islington" and suggested he should be sent "into orbit".

Mr Corbyn's "domestic policies would rack up unfair debts for our children and grandchildren and his foreign policies would imperil not just this country but our friends and neighbours as well".

He accused Mr Corbyn of siding with Nicolas Maduro's regime in Venezuela "simply because they are fellow lefties".

Mr Johnson said: "At a time when the world should unite to condemn Venezuela's Maduro, we have the leader of Britain's official opposition giving cover to a government that is jailing opponents, shooting demonstrators, intimidating journalists and repressing human rights.

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"It is a disgrace - and I can tell you there are many Labour MPs who feel appalled that their party is still led by this man and his peculiar belief - expressed in glutinous victory-style Chavista rallies up and down the country - that he somehow won the election."

Mr Corbyn's policy on Brexit was "ludicrous and vacillating" and he claimed that Labour's renationalisation programme would be a "display of economic masochism that would do incalculable damage to the future of our children".

Mr Johnson said: "We want a country with a government that works for everyone.

"Corbyn wants a Britain where everyone works for the government.

"This battle of ideas is not lost in memories of the 1970s.

"It is back from the grave.

"Its zombie fingers straining for the levers of power and that is why we cannot rest."

Labour MP Chuka Umunna, a leading supporter of the Open Britain campaign against hard Brexit, said: "After weeks of hostile briefings, leaks and red lines, Boris Johnson succeeded in saying absolutely nothing of substance about Brexit in his speech today.

"The only person weaker than him is the Prime Minister, for not sacking him two weeks ago and restoring order on her divided Cabinet.

"This was his chance to set out his stall on the biggest issue facing our country, and he completely fluffed it. Boris looks like a kitten with a head cold, not a lion."

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