Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Helen Jones
Main Page: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)Department Debates - View all Helen Jones's debates with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
(7 years ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
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Boris Johnson
We have consistently asked for her release on humanitarian grounds, and I know that the whole House will want to echo that call today.
Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)
Contrary to what he keeps saying, the Foreign Secretary’s words to the Foreign Affairs Committee were not capable of misinterpretation. They were clear but wrong, and whether deliberately or through carelessness, he put a British citizen at risk from an arbitrary and authoritarian regime. May I now give him a further chance to apologise, not for anything else but for the words that he got wrong in that Committee? His high office demands that he take responsibility.
Boris Johnson
In fairness, I think the House will acknowledge that I have apologised repeatedly, not just for the mistake but for the way in which it was taken, and for any extra suffering or anguish that my words caused. But the most important thing, as I say, is that I think there is unanimity in the House today about our objective, and may I respectfully say that I think that that is where we should focus? That would be by far the most effective way of communicating the will of the British people to the people of Iran. We feel very strongly that, on humanitarian grounds, Nazanin should come home.