Boris Johnson says his gaffe about jailed mum Nazanin 'didn't make a difference'

Boris Johnson refused to take responsibility for his handling of Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe’s case during his time in the Foreign Office.

The former Foreign Secretary denied his erroneous suggestion she had been involved in training journalists had contributed to an increased sentence in an Iranian jail.

When giving evidence to the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee in 2017 Mr Johnson gaffed said that she was "teaching people journalism" but Nazanin always insisted her 2016 visit to Tehran was for her daughter to meet her grandparents.

Nazanin's employer, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, said she was seeing family and urged Mr Johnson to correct his "serious mistake".

He was confronted with his record by BBC leadership debate presenter Emily Maitlis who said he was "frequently careless" with language.

Richard Ratcliffe outside the Iranian Embassy in London where he is continuing his hunger strike in solidarity with his imprisoned wife (PA)

But asked whether his slip up at the Commons committee increased Nazanin's jail time he said: “In that case, it didn’t, I think, make any difference."

And he doubled down saying: “If you point the finger at the UK, all you are doing is exculpating those who are truly responsible, which is the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.”

Nazanin's husband Richard, who is on hunger strike in protest at her ongoing imprisonment, said this week: “He clearly made a mistake … At times I’ve resented him for it.”