Boris Johnson Facing The Sack Over ‘Sick And Offensive’ Joke

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Prime Minister, Theresa May, is being urged to sack Boris Johnson over a ‘sick joke’ he made at the Tory conference in Manchester yesterday.

Boris suggested a Libyan city could become the next Dubai once it had ‘cleared the dead bodies away’, according to The Telegraph.

He’s been condemned by Cabinet colleagues and Tory MPs over the comment, with Damian Green, the First Secretary of State, calling the remarks ‘unacceptable’.

The remarks come after Boris Johnson was asked about his recent visit to Libya, which has been wracked by violence since the fall of its former leader.

He told the audience:

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. The only thing they have got to do is clear the dead bodies away.

Then laughed, because, you know, it’s a really hilarious situation out there, dead people, LOL.

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Speaking to BBC 5 live Breakfast, Damian Green said:

Let me be clear: it was not an acceptable use of … it was not a sensitive use of language.

As I say, we all need to be sensitive in our use of language, particularly in situations like that.

A number of MPs, some who have already spoken out against the Foreign Secretary, were calling for his resignation saying his remarks are not representative of the Tory party.

Heidi Allen, the MP for South Cambridgeshire, tweeted:

100% unacceptable from anyone, let alone foreign sec. Boris must be sacked for this. He does not represent my party.

Anna Soubry, a Tory former minister, said on Twitter that Mr Johnson is ’embarrassing’ and said he ‘must be sacked’:

Conservative MP, Sarah Wollaston spoke to BBC Radio Four Today, to express her disappointment, saying:

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 it’s really disappointing.

I would say most people would look at the situation in Libya and say ‘how can our foreign secretary think all you need to do, as he puts it, is clear away the dead bodies and recreate a Caesar’s Palace?’ It’s clearly not true.

Johnson has since 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.

That’s why Britain is playing a key role in reconstruction and why I have visited Libya twice this year in support.

But it seems the damage has been done, Emily Thornberry, a Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury, didn’t buy his defence.

Ms Thornberry tweeted:

From a man who was joking about clearing dead bodies for golf courses a few hours ago, oh please.

Theresa, this one’s on you.

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