Boris Johnson slammed for Libya 'dead bodies' comment
Boris Johnson has been slapped down by a senior Cabinet colleague after saying a Libyan city could become the next Dubai once it had cleared the dead bodies away.
The Foreign Secretary is facing calls that he should be sacked over the comments on the fringes of the Conservative Party conference in Manchester.
Damian Green, the de facto deputy prime minister, rebuked his Cabinet colleague.
He told Sky News: "Everyone, including Boris, needs to be careful in their use of language."
Boris Johnson tells a fringe meeting that a Libyan city will become "the next Dubai" if they "clear the dead bodies away" pic.twitter.com/jgyy4lCvRw
— Sky News (@SkyNews) October 3, 2017
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.
"That's why Britain is playing a key role in reconstruction and why I have visited Libya twice this year in support."
Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston said: "Demeaning jokes about real people murdered in Libya would be crass even from a stand up; appalled to hear this from our Foreign Secretary."
