Unbelievable moment policing minister Chris Philp asks if Rwanda and Congo are different countries.

[pellinore]

Actually, it is perfectly believable, sadly. It echoes the time Therese Coffey, Minister for Stupidity, mocked another MP for mentioning Kigali when discussing the Rwanda Bill; "We're not sending them to Kigali, we are sending them to Rwanda", she said.

A Conservative minister has faced criticism after he seemingly asked a Question Time audience member if Rwanda and Congo were different countries.

Policing minister Chris Philp surprised the audience - who gasped and laughed at his response to a question about the controversial Rwanda bill.

An audience member asked if asylum seekers in the UK who had arrived from Congo could be sent to Rwanda. The two countries neighbour each other and there is an ongoing conflict between the two nations.

In response, the minister said: 'Well Rwanda is a different country from Congo, isn't it?'

The camera panned to fellow panellist and Shadow Secretary for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting, who gave Philp a wide-eyed, bewildered stare.

Unbelievable moment policing minister Chris Philp leaves Question Time audience gasping as he asks if Rwanda and Congo are different countries: Senior Tory's howler as he's asked about deporting migrants from African warzones | Daily Mail Online

Edited April 26 by pellinore

[Ozymandias]

Chris Philip, a Minister of Sate as thick as two short planks?!!

Par for the course, though, isn't it? The whole Brexiteer movement, people and government, is wanting in the basics. How could a modern progressive country like the UK surrender itself to such ignorance and incompetence? The damage they have been doing to the UK's material welfare and international reputation 'will live in infamy' (to quote Franklin D. Roosevelt's speech after Pearl Harbour).