Top Tory ridiculed ‘for confusing Rwanda and neighbouring country it is fighting’
A SENIOR Tory has been ridiculed for appearing to confuse Rwanda and the neighbouring country it is fighting.
Home Office minister Chris Philp asked whether “Rwanda is a different country from Congo” on BBC TV’s Question Time.
His comment, coming the day his government’s Rwanda deportation plan became law, brought laughter from the audience.
He was responding to a question from an audience member on whether his family from the Democratic Republic of Congo would be sent to Rwanda if they came to the UK — despite long-standing tensions between the two African countries.
Mr Philp said: “No, I think there’s an exclusion on people from Rwanda being sent to Rwanda.”
When the audience member shouted out to correct him, Mr Philp then asked: “Well, Rwanda is a different country from Congo, isn’t it? It’s a different country?”
Fellow panellist Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting looked bemused by his answer.
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper later said: “No words.”
Shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock said the Government was sending £576million to a country they “couldn’t even pick out on a map”.
Lib Dem MP Sarah Olney said Thursday night’s exchange, showed that this was “not a serious government”.
An ally of Mr Philp suggested his was a rhetorical question.