UK Home Secretary Chris Philp earned ridicule, after asking whether Rwanda and Congo are different countries, writes the Independent.
The police minister's gaffe came on Thursday night as he was being interviewed by the BBC about the government's controversial migrant deportation policy.
A member of the audience asked the minister if his family members from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) would be sent to Rwanda under the scheme if they were targeted.
He highlighted the volatile situation in relations between the DR Congo and Rwanda, expressing concern about the idea of Congolese being sent to a hostile country.
Discussing the situation in the DRC city of Goma, he asked: “If my family members had come from Goma right now, would they be sent back to the country they are supposedly at war with?”.< /p>
Despite the explanations, the interior minister could not seem to understand that it was about separate countries.
„No, I think there is an exception for people from Rwanda to be sent to Rwanda, Philp told the audience.
“They are not from Rwanda, they are from Congo”, the man in the audience repeated.
Philp looked puzzled and then asked: “Well...Rwanda is a different country to the Congo, right?”
The minister's unusual question was met with visible bewilderment by the audience and Labour's Wes Streeting.
Some onlookers were seen laughing while others shook their heads in disbelief.
Philp went on to explain: “There is a clause in the legislation that says if someone would suffer serious, irreversible harm by being sent somewhere, they will not be sent.“
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said there were “no words” to describe a blunder. While shadow environment secretary Steve Reid said: “He was also ignorant as Chancellor of the Exchequer when he helped Liz Truss crash the economy.
“Now he is ignorant as a Home Secretary who does not distinguish between countries,” added Cooper.
On Wednesday, the British Parliament approved a controversial bill to deport asylum seekers who have entered the UK illegally to Rwanda.
Members of the House of Lords, the upper house of the British Parliament, brought the bill back to the House of Commons with amendments several times before agreeing to make no further changes to the text, ensuring it would go into effect.
Some Labor and independent MPs have called for the bill to include safeguards for Afghans who have previously helped British troops in Afghanistan, and for a commission to be set up to monitor the safety of asylum seekers when they arrive in Rwanda. In the end the House of Lords allowed the bill
to pass its final discussion in parliament without any significant changes, notes Reuters.
Before the bill was passed, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the first plane carrying asylum seekers would leave Britain for Rwanda in 10 to 12 weeks, according to Reuters.