Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe Debate
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Christian Matheson
Main Page: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)Department Debates - View all Christian Matheson's debates with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
Christian Matheson Excerpts(7 years, 1 month ago)
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Boris Johnson
I can certainly say that no stone will be left unturned on behalf of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, and indeed on behalf of all the other consular cases in Iran. What I cannot, alas, guarantee is that we will have the result that the hon. Gentleman wants, but it will not be for want of trying.
Christian Matheson (City of Chester) (Lab)
If I were in jail in Iran for a crime that I had not committed, I could not hope to have a better Member of Parliament than my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead and Kilburn (Tulip Siddiq), and I hope that the Foreign Secretary will pay tribute to her. Mr Ratcliffe has close family in my constituency, including a well-respected former Lord Mayor of Chester. When the Foreign Secretary goes to Iran, will he undertake to take with him a delegation of Members of this House who have a constituency interest in this case? That delegation would surely include my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead and Kilburn.
Boris Johnson
I do not want to disappoint the hon. Gentleman, who is a close follower of these issues—I join him in paying tribute to the work of the hon. Member for Hampstead and Kilburn, by the way; she has been assiduous, and I was glad to have a meeting with her the other day—and I cannot guarantee at this stage that we will have such a delegation. One thing at a time, if I may say that.