Former deputy PM Therese Coffey 'mistakes Rwandan capital for another country'
Watch Thérèse Coffey attempt to correct the Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Thérèse Coffey's attack on the Labour front benches backfired - as she mistook the capital of Rwanda for an entirely different country.
Speaking during the third reading of the Rwanda bill in the Commons, Dr Coffey attempted to reprimand Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper for having referred to Kigali "when we are talking about Rwanda".
"I have to say, I was somewhat astonished by the speech of the shadow home secretary, who cannot even get the name of the country right, talking about the Kigali government when we are talking about Rwanda—a respected country that has recently been president of the Commonwealth," said the Suffolk Coastal MP.
Kigali is the capital of Rwanda, with a population of more than 1.7m people.
Footage from the Commons showed Ms Cooper appearing to snigger at the comments, and the blunder was quickly seized upon by online commenters.
Dr Coffey tweeted on Thursday at "keyboard snipers moaning" about what she had said, adding: "I would not call the French government the Paris government, nor the Scottish government the Edinburgh government. Why disrespect Rwanda?"
Among those to criticise online was former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell, who said: “Historians will wonder how on earth people who are just not very bright became so powerful in the land … They are unfit for opposition, let alone government,” said former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell.
Dr Coffey was briefly deputy prime minister during Liz Truss's six weeks as prime minister, and has also served as health secretary, work and pension secretary, and environment secretary.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak saw his legislation pass its third reading in the Commons on Wednesday night, after a would-be backbench revolt on his Rwanda Bill largely melted away.
Mr Sunak has made the Rwanda policy — first proposed in 2022 while Boris Johnson was in No 10 — central to his premiership, forming part of his pledge to stop small boats of migrants from coming to Britain by the English Channel.
Under the plan, migrants who cross the Channel in small boats could be sent to Rwanda rather than being allowed to seek asylum in the UK.
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