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Theresa May at PMQs
Theresa May said Jeremy Hunt or Boris Johnson would ‘do a darn sight better job than anybody [from Labour or the SNP]’. Photograph: House of Commons/PA
Theresa May said Jeremy Hunt or Boris Johnson would ‘do a darn sight better job than anybody [from Labour or the SNP]’. Photograph: House of Commons/PA

May defends record of Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt at PMQs

This article is more than 4 years old

SNP calls Tory leadership rivals incompetent and says Johnson ‘made a career out of lying’

Theresa May has defended Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt after they were labelled the most incompetent foreign and health secretaries in a century.

In a fierce exchange at prime minister’s questions with the Scottish National party’s Ian Blackford, May said: “Either of the candidates for this high office would do a darn sight better job than anybody sitting on those benches,” pointing to Labour and the SNP.

Blackford, the SNP’s leader in Westminster, challenged the prime minister to say whether she would decline to vote for a successor willing to take the UK into a no-deal Brexit.

Do or die, come what may. Those are the words of the prime minister’s likely successor,” Blackford said, referring to Johnson’s Talkradio interview on Tuesday. “The Tory dream is to drag us out of the EU, no matter the cost.”

Blackford said the prime minister was showing “gross cowardice” by not condemning her successor’s willingness to enact no deal.

“You are asking people to put their faith in the most incompetent foreign secretary in a century, a man who has made a career out of lying, who has spent his week avoiding the media and staging photos and playing to the extreme delusions of the Tory shires,” he said.

“On the other hand, we also have the most incompetent health secretary in our history, a man who writes books on privatising our NHS.”

In an earlier exchange with Jeremy Corbyn, May defended the UK government as the Labour leader challenged her over arms sales toSaudi Arabia.

His comments came after British weapons exports to the Gulf kingdom were ruled unlawful by the court of appeal in a judgment that also accused ministers of ignoring whether airstrikes that killed civilians in Yemen had broken humanitarian law.

“The UN describes the situation in Yemen as ‘humanity’s biggest preventable disaster’, and the government sees fit to continue selling arms to Saudi Arabia during that situation,” Corbyn said.

“Can I ask the prime minister a very simple question: does she believe there are serious ongoing violations of international humanitarian law by Saudi Arabia in Yemen – yes or no?”

May insisted the government did “consider these issues very carefully when we are considering arms export licences” and said a political solution was needed in Yemen.

However, she defended the Saudi-led intervention, which she said was “in response to a request from the legitimate government in Yemen, following a rebel insurgency which overthrew the internationally recognised government”.

May also criticised the Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle, who was forced to withdraw an invitation he had issued to Ahmed Alshami, a leading member of the Houthi coalition, at a Stop the War Coalition meeting on Tuesday.

The Tory MP Andrew Mitchell, a former international development secretary, also criticised the British response, calling the situation “a catastrophe”.

“Isn’t the case that Britain should move to a position of far greater neutrality supporting a comprehensive ceasefire?” he said.

“While Britain is absolutely right to condemn the Houthi attacks on Riyadh and Jeddah, can we not also condemn the night after night bombings by the Saudi aircraft which are killing innocent civilians and radicalising tens of thousands of Yemenis?”

May said the government had supported efforts for a ceasefire, reiterating that a political settlement was “the only way to get the security and stability in Yemen”.

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