Nicky Morgan has said Boris Johnson should be “considering his position” as Foreign Secretary after making inaccurate comments about Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe who is detained in Iran.
The former Cabinet minister’s comments come after Anna Soubry – also a former minister – said that in “normal times” Mr Johnson would have been removed from his position “long ago”.
Asked whether she agreed with her Conservative colleague Ms Morgan said: “I certainly think he [Boris] should be considering his position, yes. If I thought that sacking was going to make a difference…the important point is the safety and security of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.”
On Monday Downing Street said it was considering the possibility of offering the UK mother diplomatic immunity, adding the Foreign Secretary had told his Iranian counterpart that Ms Zaghari-Ratclifee was on holiday in the country.
Mr Johnson was heavily criticised last week after it emerged he incorrectly told MPs that Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been training journalists in Iran, which led to her being hauled in front of an Iranian court and threatened with an extended prison sentence.
And on Sunday Michael Gove, the Environment Secretary, said he didn’t know what Ms Zaghari-Ratclife was doing in the region, despite it being the UK’s official position that she was there on holiday.
Speaking on the BBC’s Daily Politics, Ms Morgan said the case was a “heartbreaking situation,” and added that she could not “begin to imagine” what went through Mr Johnson’s and Mr Gove’s minds.
“We all know, particularly after a week of coverage, that she was in the country visiting her parents with her young daughter. That’s it. End of story,” she said.
Ms Morgan continued: “The conduct he has shown, the way he answered the original question, the way he’s continued it would make, I would have thought, any Prime Minister think do I have the right person as Foreign Secretary."
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 38, was separated from her 21-month-old daughter Gabriella when she was arrested as she tried to return home to London after a two-week holiday.
Gabriella, now three, remains at the Tehran home of Nazanin’s parents, while her mother is in a high-security Iranian jail and her father in London.
