British ministers rally around Foreign Secretary Johnson over Iran

[webfact]

British ministers rally around Foreign Secretary Johnson over Iran

 

Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson waits to lay a wreathe at the Remembrance Sunday Cenotaph service in London, Britain, November 12, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville

 

LONDON (Reuters) - British ministers rallied around Boris Johnson on Sunday, 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 Observer newspaper on Sunday 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 Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 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 Nov. 1 was incorrect, while opposition British lawmakers said the remarks could land the aid worker a longer term in jail.

 

The Thomson Reuters Foundation is independent of Thomson Reuters and operates independently of Reuters News.

"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.

 

"There is no reason, no excuse and no justification for her detention and she should be released," he told the BBC's Andrew Marr show.

 

A Foreign Office source later said Johnson had held a "very constructive" phone call with her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, who has called on the minister to visit his wife in jail.

 

The show of support for Johnson from fellow Brexit campaigners demonstrates the difficulties May faces in keeping her cabinet unified on a range of issues.

 

She lost two of her ministers in a week: Michael Fallon quit as defence minister in a growing sexual harassment scandal and then Priti Patel was forced out of her job as aid minister over undisclosed meetings with Israeli officials.

 

Forty members of the Conservative Party have agreed to sign a letter of no-confidence in the prime ministers, eight short of the number needed to trigger a leadership contest, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.

 

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Gareth Jones)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-11-13

[Samui Bodoh]

When you name a buffoon as Foreign Secretary, you get buffoonery. 

 

What did everyone expect? 

[Somtamnication]

What an idiot! He should leave and go to Iran and get that woman back.

[ezzra]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

The leader of Britain's main opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, called on May to sack Johnson

God forbid that someone will criticize the friends of Corbyn,

do not question or upset the Iranians, who some how mange to continue

to fool the world with their 'good intentions'

one day the world will wake up to a nuclear Iran and there will be way

to late than to start criticizing Iran...

[Baerboxer]

1 hour ago, ezzra said:

God forbid that someone will criticize the friends of Corbyn,

do not question or upset the Iranians, who some how mange to continue

to fool the world with their 'good intentions'

one day the world will wake up to a nuclear Iran and there will be way

to late than to start criticizing Iran...

 

Indeed. The idiot in NK is a tiny danger compared to what a nuclear armed Iran would be. Israel can never afford to allow Iran to be nuclear armed so a real nasty war would likely occur before it got to that.

 

Talking or undermining the UK, Corbyn has some strange bedfellows. IRA, PLO, Iran, etc. Notice he and his party never criticize the "socialist" dictator in Venezuela. Nor China. But Trump, the USA and Israel are the enemy!

 

As for Khan - FA to do with him. He quit parliament to become Mayor of London. Under his regime, crime is rising significantly, as is racial tension and social unrest. But rather than doing his job he wants to poke his nose in to try and undermine the government.

 

Boris is a buffoon and gawd knows why May ever put him in that position. But things would be much much worse under loony left elites like Corbyn, Khan, Abbott etc. They would give billions away to their mates and screw tax to pay for it.

[Rancid]

1 hour ago, ezzra said:

God forbid that someone will criticize the friends of Corbyn,

do not question or upset the Iranians, who some how mange to continue

to fool the world with their 'good intentions'

one day the world will wake up to a nuclear Iran and there will be way

to late than to start criticizing Iran...

I don't even like the notion of a Theocracy let along the reality, however I see that as Iran's problem and probably occurred more as a response to the CIA destroying democracy there when they installed the Shah.

 

Seems Iran is not about to acquire nukes any time soon, and even if they did all we end up with is MAD situation with Israel, and that is purely Israels problem. Or is the issue worrying about nutter Jews, Muslims and Christians wanting to bring about their insane end of days fallacies ?

[DPKANKAN]

44 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Indeed. The idiot in NK is a tiny danger compared to what a nuclear armed Iran would be. Israel can never afford to allow Iran to be nuclear armed so a real nasty war would likely occur before it got to that.

 

Talking or undermining the UK, Corbyn has some strange bedfellows. IRA, PLO, Iran, etc. Notice he and his party never criticize the "socialist" dictator in Venezuela. Nor China. But Trump, the USA and Israel are the enemy!

 

As for Khan - FA to do with him. He quit parliament to become Mayor of London. Under his regime, crime is rising significantly, as is racial tension and social unrest. But rather than doing his job he wants to poke his nose in to try and undermine the government.

 

Boris is a buffoon and gawd knows why May ever put him in that position. But things would be much much worse under loony left elites like Corbyn, Khan, Abbott etc. They would give billions away to their mates and screw tax to pay for it.

Yes but Boris is intelligent and I love the fact he is not a typical p c ambassador and has the career diplomats on edge before dealing with them. 55555

[Baerboxer]

Just now, DPKANKAN said:

Yes but Boris is intelligent and I love the fact he is not a typical p c ambassador and has the career diplomats on edge before dealing with them. 55555

 

He's very well educated. Which isn't the same as being intelligent.

 

He lied through his teeth whilst campaigning for Brexit, which he never thought would happen, to gain popularity by telling some people what they wanted to here. 

 

He's not pc which wouldn't be a bad thing but spoils it with crass rudeness to the point of causing offense, and putting his foot in it due to lack of thinking. 

 

Can you name any achievement he's made since becoming Foreign Secretary?

[Enoon]

 

 

"Johnson the Foot in the Mouth" disaster or "Johnson the Churchill Fantasist".

 

The latter most destructive I suspect.

 

 

[champers]

4 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

What an idiot! He should leave and go to Iran and get that woman back.

Taking her place would be good. He wants May to sack him and will keep on pushing the boundaries till she does.

Edited November 13, 2017 by champers

[Bundooman]

Jeremy Corbyn, called on May to sack Johnson, writing in the Observer newspaper on Sunday 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".

 

He's to thick to realise that is exactly what the British people have been saying about Corbyn for years -  "we've put up with him embarrassing and undermining our country through his alliance with the IRA, PLA, Gahdaffi and other terrorist leaders  ... for long enough. It's time for corbyn to go". Worthles creature - always has been.

 

Pots and kettles!

[Jip99]

1 minute ago, Bundooman said:

Jeremy Corbyn, called on May to sack Johnson, writing in the Observer newspaper on Sunday 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".

 

He's to thick to realise that is exactly what the British people have been saying about Corbyn for years -  "we've put up with him embarrassing and undermining our country through his alliance with the IRA, PLA, Gahdaffi and other terrorist leaders  ... for long enough. It's time for corbyn to go". Worthles creature - always has been.

 

Pots and kettles!

 

 

Perhaps he should also look at his own support for Diane Abbott !!

[Jonnapat]

Britain's face to the world! I'm truly ashamed of what my country is becoming.

A weak PM and a cabinet full of hopeless idiots. Just wait until Brexit really takes effect.

Expats can look forward to an even weaker pound in the future.

[hgma]

Boris J is the reincarnation (in public) of Boris J(eltsin)

Always one or two to many and ever playing dumb

 

[dunroaming]

Johnson is a buffoon, albeit a very well educated one, and is not fit for purpose as a foreign secretary.  But at the moment he is the least of May's problems.  She is clearly only surviving because nobody wants to take on the leadership of this chaos.   

[oldgent]

the simple solution is a transfer swap Boris for the Aid worker

[rockingrobin]

16 minutes ago, dunroaming said:

Johnson is a buffoon, albeit a very well educated one, and is not fit for purpose as a foreign secretary.  But at the moment he is the least of May's problems.  She is clearly only surviving because nobody wants to take on the leadership of this chaos.   

I see it slighty different.

There are people with leadrership ambitions, but none of them wants to be the catalyst for a leaderhip battle.  Because in that scenerio they are judged as mischief makers and very rarely win. What they require is a willing /unwilling patsy

[dunroaming]

46 minutes ago, oldgent said:

the simple solution is a transfer swap Boris for the Aid worker

Maybe through in a few other cabinet ministers for balance. 

 

[dunroaming]

45 minutes ago, rockingrobin said:

I see it slighty different.

There are people with leadrership ambitions, but none of them wants to be the catalyst for a leaderhip battle.  Because in that scenerio they are judged as mischief makers and very rarely win. What they require is a willing /unwilling patsy

There's certainly logic in that argument.

 

Over the weekend 40 Tory MPs pledged to sign a letter of no confidence (not enough to trigger a challenge, although close) but that in itself is not a leadership challenge.

[Lokie]

A scarier thing is if Corbyn, Abbott and all the loony lefts got in, UK would be bankrupt within two years

 

As for anyone messing about in a country like Iran with western links, then you are likely to be detained on whatever trumped up charges, nothing to do what so ever with any comments from government ministers. As for Boris lying as posted above, at least he's an honest liar unlike the Corbinites of labour lol

[dunroaming]

23 minutes ago, Lokie said:

As for Boris lying as posted above, at least he's an honest liar unlike the Corbinites of labour

Priceless! 

[rockingrobin]

33 minutes ago, Lokie said:

A scarier thing is if Corbyn, Abbott and all the loony lefts got in, UK would be bankrupt within two years

 

As for anyone messing about in a country like Iran with western links, then you are likely to be detained on whatever trumped up charges, nothing to do what so ever with any comments from government ministers. As for Boris lying as posted above, at least he's an honest liar unlike the Corbinites of labour lol

UK goverment based upon human sacrifice ?

[lungbing]

First, and possible most important, if this woman entered Iran on her Irainian passport then she is an Iranian in Iran and the UK foreign Secretary shouldn't interfere in what they would consider an internal matter.
Second. Although she does hold dual nationality Iran might not recognise that and consider her to only be an Iranian citizen.
Third. Even a regime like that would not bother somebody who just entered the country and only visited friends AND NOTHING ELSE.  We don't know what she did or where she went in Iran.
Fourth. Her husband is a Labour party activist, and of course he's going to try to embarrass the UK government.
Finally Boris didn't make the statement up on the spot, he was repeating what his Foreign Office
researchers had told him.  Maybe they were trying to embarrass the government.

 

We don't know the whole story here, and probably never will.

[rockingrobin]

39 minutes ago, lungbing said:

First, and possible most important, if this woman entered Iran on her Irainian passport then she is an Iranian in Iran and the UK foreign Secretary shouldn't interfere in what they would consider an internal matter.
Second. Although she does hold dual nationality Iran might not recognise that and consider her to only be an Iranian citizen.
Third. Even a regime like that would not bother somebody who just entered the country and only visited friends AND NOTHING ELSE.  We don't know what she did or where she went in Iran.
Fourth. Her husband is a Labour party activist, and of course he's going to try to embarrass the UK government.
Finally Boris didn't make the statement up on the spot, he was repeating what his Foreign Office
researchers had told him.  Maybe they were trying to embarrass the government.

 

We don't know the whole story here, and probably never will.

The UK government position is that the woman was on holiday, and holiday only

The UN also requested her release from arbitrary detention 

 

[dunroaming]

1 hour ago, lungbing said:

First, and possible most important, if this woman entered Iran on her Irainian passport then she is an Iranian in Iran and the UK foreign Secretary shouldn't interfere in what they would consider an internal matter.
Second. Although she does hold dual nationality Iran might not recognise that and consider her to only be an Iranian citizen.
Third. Even a regime like that would not bother somebody who just entered the country and only visited friends AND NOTHING ELSE.  We don't know what she did or where she went in Iran.
Fourth. Her husband is a Labour party activist, and of course he's going to try to embarrass the UK government.
Finally Boris didn't make the statement up on the spot, he was repeating what his Foreign Office
researchers had told him.  Maybe they were trying to embarrass the government.

 

We don't know the whole story here, and probably never will.

You started out really well with your first two points spot on.  The you went into la la land and wrote utter rubbish.  I have had a few conversations with Richard Ratcliffe  at rallies that were organised after his wife was arrested in Iran.  If you knew about this case at all you wouldn't write such drivel. 

[lungbing]

As her husband is not with her he doesn't know what she was doing or whom she was meeting.

Is he not a Labour party activist then?

Does BoJo  not rely on his briefing prepared for him by civil servants?

Sorry, I don't consider it drivel.

[Lokie]

7 hours ago, dunroaming said:

Priceless! 

 

4 hours ago, dunroaming said:

You started out really well with your first two points spot on.  The you went into la la land and wrote utter rubbish.  I have had a few conversations with Richard Ratcliffe  at rallies that were organised after his wife was arrested in Iran.  If you knew about this case at all you wouldn't write such drivel. 

Lol, La La Land...? Unlike Corbin and the Loony Left who talk utter rubbish. 

 

With Jezza's connections from the past can he not pull a few strings for this lady who seemingly has been arrested for just visiting family...?

[nausea]

Seems Labour are intent on creating some competition: 

 

"Question Time audience howls as Emily Thornberry gets caught out by socialism question.

 

LABOUR’s Emily Thornberry caused the BBC Question Time audience to erupt with laughter last night as she got tongue-tied when naming a country which has benefitted from Corbyn's type of socialism."

 

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/880633/BBC-Question-Time-Labour-Party-Socialism-Emily-Thornberry-Jeremy-Corbyn-Venezuela

 

Must be something to do with the post - Emily Thornberry is Labour's Shadow Foreign Secretary.

Edited November 19, 2017 by nausea
Spelling

[baboon]

On 13/11/2017 at 5:58 PM, Lokie said:

A scarier thing is if Corbyn, Abbott and all the loony lefts got in, UK would be bankrupt within two years

 

As for anyone messing about in a country like Iran with western links, then you are likely to be detained on whatever trumped up charges, nothing to do what so ever with any comments from government ministers. As for Boris lying as posted above, at least he's an honest liar unlike the Corbinites of labour lol

The UK IS bankrupt in case you hadn't noticed. Who is in power at the moment?

[baboon]

On 13/11/2017 at 12:25 PM, Bundooman said:

Jeremy Corbyn, called on May to sack Johnson, writing in the Observer newspaper on Sunday 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".

 

He's to thick to realise that is exactly what the British people have been saying about Corbyn for years -  "we've put up with him embarrassing and undermining our country through his alliance with the IRA, PLA, Gahdaffi and other terrorist leaders  ... for long enough. It's time for corbyn to go". Worthles creature - always has been.

 

Pots and kettles!

"He's to thick to realise that is exactly what the British people have been saying about Corbyn for years"

 

Pots and kettles indeed...