'I didn't mix anything up at all': Thérèse Coffey defends criticism after Rwanda gaffe in Commons debate

18 January 2024, 12:32

By Kieran Kelly

@kellyjourno

Thérèse Coffey has insisted she "did not mix anything up at all" when she accused the shadow home secretary of getting the wrong country when referring to the "Kigali government" during a debate on Rwanda.

The Shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, gave a speech in the House of Commons debate last night, in which she referred to the "Kigali Government".

Responding to the speech in the Commons, Ms Coffey, who has served as deputy prime minister, said she was "astonished" by Ms Cooper's speech.

“I have to say, I was somewhat astonished by the speech of the Shadow Home Secretary, who can’t even get the name of the country right, talking about Kigali government, when we’re talking about Rwanda," she told the Commons.

“Respect a country that has a recent living president of the Commonwealth."

But Ms Cooper had been correct to refer to the 'government in Kigali' - the capital of Rwanda - where the central government is based.

Defending her criticism of the shadow home secretary, Ms Coffey told LBC: "I didn’t mix anything up at all.

"Yvette Cooper referred regularly to the Kigali government, when she should have been referring to the Rwandan government.

"We would not call the French government, the Paris government. We would not call the US government, the Washington DC government."

Ms Cooper, sitting alongside Stephen Kinnock, shadow minister for immigration, during the debate, was left stunned by Ms Coffey's mistake.

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Ms Coffey was heavily criticised on social media after the debate, with one person commenting beneath a video of the mistake: "Coffey was deputy PM not long ago & she doesn’t even know the capital of the country her party have staked their political future on. It’s unbelievable"

Another said: "How much more incompetence and denial will it take for Tory voters to see this government as a joke?"

A third added: "I honestly couldn’t believe what I heard."

LBC has contacted Ms Coffey for a response.