MPs tear into Boris Johnson for Iran blunder

Boris Johnson mysteriously decided to update the House of Commons on the fight against Islamic State today, even though everyone else was talking about another aspect of the Foreign Secretary’s job. He decided to include the row over his comments about Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in this statement, presumably to take some of the heat out of the row. His other tactic in trying to reduce the row further was to accuse anyone who attacked him for his blunder in which he told the Foreign Affairs Committee last week that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was teaching journalism of playing party politics. On the opposite benches, it wasn’t just Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry who mooted Johnson losing his job: Yvette Cooper, Wes Streeting and Ian Murray were among Labour MPs who asked why he was still in the role. Lib Dem Jo Swinson also told him that if he won’t read his briefing notes properly, then he should resign.