Boris Johnson, the prime minister, and Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, have been branded “inhuman” as footage of them visiting an Afghanistan crisis centre drew comparisons to the office sitcom, The Thick of It.
The pair visited the centre just days after an ISIS terror attack hit Kabul Airport, with British officials continuing to evacuate civilians and personnel out of a country now under control of the Taliban.
In a clip shared by BBC Newsnight, Johnson can be seen asking those in the room: “Are you the guys who have been inundated with all the emails from everywhere in the world saying, ‘please help my son, mother in Afghanistan?’
“I’ve had a few of those.”
Another section of the video showed Raab and Johnson talking to someone from the centre, who described how there had been a “lot of distressed people saying their families had been left behind”.
In response, the foreign secretary said: “Do we know if the crowd has thinned out yet because of the terrorist attack? I thought it was extraordinary that they all stayed.”
“Amazing, amazing, yes,” added Johnson.
“I think there are still people who are trying to get in, but a lot of them have dispersed, or gone back home because of our advice to them,” the woman responded.
The pair’s interactions at the crisis centre have since been criticised and ridiculed online, with Twitter users describing their demeanour as “astonishing” and “shockingly blasé”:
Shockingly blasé about peoples' lives and desperate struggles to save family members.
— Bella34💙🍃🦔🦡 (@titch3435) August 27, 2021
(Plus, where is his mask in an enclosed area?).
Ladies and gentlemen I give you the PM and the Foreign Sec of the UK.
— Randall Northam (@RandallNortham) August 27, 2021
Absolutely astonishing.
“Do we know whether the crowd has thinned out yet because of the terrorist attack?” pic.twitter.com/aNDRolSliD
— christhebarker (@christhebarker) August 27, 2021
The lightheartedness of these two senior elected officials at a crisis centre is almost beyond belief. It holds a mirror up to the governance of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a political state that has surely forfeited its right to exist.
— Simon Cosgrove 🇪🇺#FBPE #Rejoin (@simoncosgrove) August 28, 2021
Sounds like a jolly little conversation - as if they're visiting a garden centre. No gravitas whatsoever.
— Chris (@Chris08505199) August 28, 2021
Is this real? pic.twitter.com/1CUVwj5D2o
— Janey Godley (@JaneyGodley) August 28, 2021
Nah. This is real. Shocking I know.
— Karl Turner MP (@KarlTurnerMP) August 27, 2021
Woke up to find The Thick of It trending and got excited at the prospect of a new series.
— Calvin Robinson (@calvinrobinson) August 28, 2021
Disappointed to find it’s actually Newsnight footage of the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary acting characteristically inhuman.
No compassion, no empathy, just two awkward politicians. pic.twitter.com/caacq5FhvF
Take a good hard look. It's all so terribly funny, electing lazy half-witted shyster clowns to government. And then there's a crisis and you're left with this. An absolute spectacle of shite. https://t.co/S8zPHhTk1n
— Ian Dunt (@IanDunt) August 28, 2021
Wondering how out of their depth our government is?
— David Schneider (@davidschneider) August 28, 2021
Here’s Johnson and Raab saying how impressive it is people are staying at Kabul airport only to be told by a civil servant they aren’t because of the government’s (ie Johnson & Raab’s) advice. pic.twitter.com/cr0cet2yg5
It's like Johnson and Raab are checking in on the planning for the local Village fete.
— johnpsimon MCCT 🏑⚽🏏⛳ (@johnpsimon) August 28, 2021
If it isn’t The Thick of It, then people were comparing it to a spoof, or another TV comedy:
I honestly thought this was a spoof.surely no one can talk SO glibly about an enormous tragedy partly caused by those two people?
— bridget Craig (@bridgetCraig17) August 27, 2021
Ladies and gentlemen. There have been many comedy double acts over the years, and I mean none of them any disrespect, but these two out spoof, out glib and out do any satire that has gone before. @rickygervais couldnt have written this.
— Mark Venner #FBPE #GTTO (@marcus1691) August 27, 2021
It’s like watching a pair of drama students acting out a brief of “appear concerned”
— Graeme Bandeira (@GraemeBandeira) August 27, 2021
This new season of The Thick Of It has gone right downhill. https://t.co/wmKWMY00az
— Bryan #FBPPR #FBPA (@Bryan_Kennerley) August 27, 2021
The Thick of It, deleted scene (2021):#Newsnight pic.twitter.com/k8Kvns16Xj
— David (@Zero_4) August 27, 2021
the Blackadder style caricature of incompetent and clueless, out-of-touch, toffs cheering ordinary people going over the trenches, without a single ounce of common human empathy or imagination, is a little overdone historically, convenient
— Anand Madhvani (@dosima_org) August 28, 2021
but this, sadly, is totally genuine 😔 https://t.co/qXoEBBt3RI
This looks more authentic pic.twitter.com/yiVEnSgG0O
— Janey Godley (@JaneyGodley) August 28, 2021
Then again, who needs satire and sitcoms when some feel politicians make a mockery of themselves already?
