BORIS Johnson has dodged calls for him to apologise for his comments about clearing corpses from a Libyan city, accusing his critics of “political point-scoring”.
The Foreign Secretary, who sparked outrage earlier this month for saying the city of Sirte could be like Dubai if the Libyans could "clear the dead bodies away", was twice urged to say sorry during Foreign Office questions in the Commons.
But he said the "best thing" the Government and MPs could do would be to "get behind" its plan to bring security to Libya, which he said would "do honour to all those who fell fighting Daesh in Libya".
Earlier this month, Downing Street rebuked Mr Johnson's gaffe, branding his comments inappropriate, and when asked whether he should apologise, a No 10 source said it was a "matter for him".
In the Commons, Mr Johnson was challenged by Fabian Hamilton, the Shadow Foreign Minister, to "directly apologise" to the families of the young men who died fighting in Sirte.
"When challenged about his recent 'clear the dead bodies' remarks, the Foreign Secretary said that his only critics were those with 'no knowledge or understanding of Libya'".
He quoted Guma El-Gamaty, the head of the Libyan Taghyeer Party, who said it was "insensitive" to talk about the bodies as if they were an "obstacle to British businessman enjoying beer and sunbathing".
But Mr Johnson replied: "By far the best thing that this Government and this House can do is get behind the plan that this Government is promoting to bring security to Libya, security to Sirte, and that would do honour to all those who fell fighting Daesh in Libya; that is the way forward for that country and that is the course that we are promoting."
The clash came came after the SNP’s David Linden called on Mr Johnson to "do the right thing and apologise, or will he resign?" over the comments made during a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference.
Mr Johnson replied: "We must all be aware of the reality in Libya and indeed in Sirte that there is a tragic absence of security and that the problems of that city have yet to be resolved.
"But when they are resolved, and they will be addressed and they are being addressed with the help of this country, then the people of Libya do indeed have fantastic economic prospects and that is the objective of this Government."
Mr Linden’s Nationalist colleague, Stephen Gethins, the party’s international affairs spokesman also took Mr Johnson to task, saying: "Quite remarkably, he's been criticised across the political divide and by a former British ambassador, and he was described as having dishonoured the sacrifice of those who fought and died in Sirte.
"Will he now retract those comments, and will he tell us whether or not he is best placed to take forward our relationship with Libya?" asked the Fife MP.
Mr Johnson replied: "I don't believe political point-scoring of this kind or trivialising or ignoring the reality of the security situation in Sirte does any favours to the people of Libya.
"What they want to see is the international community, concerted and co-ordinated around the UN plan, so that their children have the opportunities that are currently denied to that generation in Libya. That is what we are working to achieve," he added.
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