Boris Johnson skirted over an apology regarding his comment that a Libyan coastal city could become a luxury "once the dead bodies were cleared away".

At the Tory conference in Manchester earlier this month, the 53-year-old angered Prime Minister Theresa May and others when he stated "Sirte could become the next Dubai".

Speaking at the House of Commons on Tuesday (October 17), the Foreign Secretary did not directly reference his remark after he was asked by the SNP's David Linden if he would apologise.

The MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip said: "We must all be aware of the tragic absence of security in Libya and Sirte."

He continued: "But, when those problems are resolved, Libya has fantastic prospects."

Mr Linden, the MP for Glasgow East, did not stop there as he later took to social media to call for the foreign secretary to resign.

He wrote: "Appalling response from Boris Johnson who refuses to apologise for his tasteless remarks on need to "clear the dead bodies away" in Sirte.

"As Foreign Secretary, he's meant to be Britain's top diplomat. Instead, still behaving like he's in the Buillingdon club. He should resign."

Mr Linden initially raised the question of what recent discussions Mr Johnson has had with representatives from other UN Security Council member states on the protection of civilians in Libya.

However, he was not the only one to challenge the Conservative MP. Labour's shadow foreign minister Fabian Hamilton said Mr Johnson should apologise as the remarks were offensive.

"MPs should get behind the plan to bring security to Libya and Sirte. That would honour those who died," was the Foreign Secretary's reply.

Speaker John Bercow then allowed the MP for North East Fife to have his say about the Libyan comments.

Boris Johnson skirted over an apology after stating a Libyan coastal town could become a luxury "once the dead bodies were cleared away"

Stephen Gethins stated "Johnson brought people together to condemn what he said" after asking the Foreign Secretary how he thought his comment impacted Libya.

Mr Johnson responded by saying: "I don't believe that political points scoring of this kind or trivialising or ignoring the reality of the security situation in Sirte does any favours to the people of Libya."

Mr Johnson was later challenged by Shadow Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary Emily Thornberry over whether he believes the UK should pay the EU a divorce bill or not.

She also accused him of "flip flopping".

She referred to two previous comments made by Johnson in which he said the "EU could go whistle" over the divorce bill sum.

Ms Thornberry said he later backtracked and conceded that the UK will have to pay for Brexit and asked if he accepts this issue.

Boris Johnson has told his Italian counterpart it is "right that decisions continued to be led by expert medical opinion, supported by the courts" after the Vatican's paediatric hospital offered care to terminally-ill Charlie Gard.
Other MPs criticised the Foreign Secretary for his remarks

But the former Mayor of London said: “I must very humbly and apologetically correct you because you’re not faithfully representing what I have said.

"What I said in an answer to an honourable friend on these benches was that I heard spoken were in my view eye-watering, in my honourable friend's eye-watering, that they were far too high.

"Now the figure I heard was £100 billion. Is that side of the house, would they cough up £100 billion? Would you?"

He continued: "I say the opposition would. I think they would, the supine protoplasmic invertebrate jellies."

He ended the statement by saying he feels "it is too much".

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