Labour frontbencher suggests Jeremy Corbyn was wrong to appear on Iranian state TV
2 min read
A senior Labour figure has suggested Jeremy Corbyn was wrong to appear on Iranian state TV after it was suggested the party was being hypocritical in its condemnation of Boris Johnson.
Writing in the Observer today, Jeremy Corbyn called for Mr Johnson to stand down and said his repeated gaffes were “damaging Britain’s standing in the world”.
The Foreign Secretary has been roundly criticised after he stated that Nazanin Zaghari Radcliffe – a British Iranian citizen being detained in Iran – was "simply teaching people journalism" when she was held in the country 18 months ago.
Mr Johnson has since faced calls from opposition MPs and from within his own party to step down after it was revealed his comments could see her prison sentence doubled.
However, when asked whether the Labour leader was in the position to make such a call, having appeared on Iran’s Press TV, Labour's shadow chief secretary to the treasury Peter Dowd told Sky News: “Two wrongs don’t make a right, if you want to put it in those terms.”
Sky's Niall Paterson confronted Mr Dowd with reports that Mr Corbyn was “paid tens of thousands” to appear on the state broadcaster, “six months after they lost their licence for airing a confession extracted through torture”.
However, Mr Dowd also defended the Labour leader, saying he was “not the Foreign Secretary” and that it is Mr Johnson with “responsibility to act on behalf… of UK citizens.”
“At the end of the day it’s not just Jeremy Corbyn effectively making these calls. There are other people, I’m making the call, because at the end of the day, the Foreign Secretary is not doing his job." he added.
“He is the Foreign Secretary. I’m not the Foreign Secretary and Jeremy Corbyn is not the Foreign Secretary. He has got the responsibility to act on behalf of the UK government, more importantly UK citizens and he isn’t doing the job, it’s as simple as that.”
Mr Dowd also said he thought Theresa May was “regretting” giving Mr Johnson the role when she took over as Prime Minister last year.
“Boris Johnson has shown time after time he isn’t very sure-footed in many issues so we have a British citizen languishing in a prison abroad and could be languishing there for longer because the Foreign Secretary hasn’t got the detail right and that’s not fair.”
“He can’t continue as the Foreign Secretary given that lack of sure-footedness. It’s our reputation at stake… but I care about people abroad who are potentially suffering because of his incompetence.
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