The defence secretary, Michael Fallon, has been left embarrassed after mistakenly assuming comments about extremism were made by the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, when they were part of a statement made by the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson.
In an 11-minute interview with by Krishnan Guru-Murthy on Channel 4 News on Friday night, Fallon criticised Corbyn’s claim that the “war on terror was not working”.
The presenter then asked the Conservative minister to respond to this quote: “Isn’t it possible that things like the Iraq war did not create the problem of murderous Islamic fundamentalists, though the war has unquestionably sharpened the resentments felt by such people in this country and given them a new pretext?”
Fallon condemned the comment, thinking it had been made by Corbyn.
However, Guru-Murthy then revealed that Johnson had said the words in response to the 7/7 London bombings in 2005 that killed 52 people.
Johnson had earlier on Friday described Corbyn as “absolutely monstrous” for linking the “war on terror” to attacks like the Manchester Arena bombing on Monday that killed 22 people and left more than 100 injured.
Fallon’s misstep was highlighted by commentators including the Guardian’s Owen Jones, who tweeted:
This really can't be tweeted enough. This is a work of art. pic.twitter.com/X9d5CNtoQc
— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) May 26, 2017
Guru-Murthy then reminded the defence secretary of more comments of a similar ilk that were made by Johnson when he was mayor of London.
“He goes on to say: ‘the Iraq war did not introduce the poison into our bloodstream but, yes, the war did help to potentiate that poison. It is difficult to deny that they have a point, the ‘told-you-so’ brigade.”
After trying to rescue the interview by saying he did not agree with that statement, Fallon was then asked by the Channel 4 presenter whether Johnson had been mistaken.
The Tory minister attempted to dodge the question on the grounds that he did not have the text of Johnson’s comments. Guru-Murthy continued to press Fallon and attacked him for his refusal to respond to Johnson’s comments.
Here's the full unedited 11 minutes of Michael Fallon on #C4News tonight on terror threat, Libya, Boris Johnson, etc https://t.co/5eysOgYExe
— Krishnan Guru-Murthy (@krishgm) May 26, 2017
The row comes after Labour frontbencher Diane Abbott was lampooned on Friday for suggesting that the Islamic extremist problem in the UK could be solved by talking to the mothers of those suspected of being radicalised.
The presenter on the Bloomberg business news channel responded to Abbott’s comment: “It is not enough just speaking to their mothers, is it?”
She was told that Corbyn had voted against anti-terror bills in the Commons more than 60 times.
Asked how a Labour government would curb terrorist activities by British-born extremists, Abbott said her party would oversee a big expansion of the Prevent anti-terrorism scheme.
She added: “Military solution cannot be the only tool. The war in Iraq did not make the international environment safer and our intervention in Libya has caused a failed state.”
"We always believed the polls would narrow," Labour's Diane Abbott says of British election https://t.co/dhGd7SsIRn pic.twitter.com/snRnhMPK9H
— Bloomberg (@business) May 26, 2017
The response on social media to the interview was similar to the much-mocked error the Labour MP made when trying to explain the party’s policy on creating an additional 10,000 police officers.
Abbott suggested the cost would be just £300,000, before then raising the figure to £80m a year – which would mean their pay would be just £8,000 a year.
