A defiant Boris Johnson has refused to apologise for his latest diplomatic gaffe as a former Tory Foreign Secretary suggested he should be sacked.
Mr Johnson made a speech in Bahrain tonight at the start of a four-day visit to the Gulf states - but did not address the diplomatic row he ignited with a speech accusing key ally Saudi Arabia of being a “puppeteer” in Middle East wars.
He was brutally slapped down by Theresa May for the gaffe, which Whitehall feared could cause offence in a country Britain relies on to fight Islamic terrorism.
Yesterday one of his predecessors as Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind said Mr Johnson may not be diplomatic enough to do the job.
“The jury’s out,” the Tory grandee said.
“It’s a question of his temperament. He might end up being more comfortable in another senior Cabinet position.
“Foreign ministers are either dull or dangerous - and Boris certainly isn’t dull.”
Boris's comments come at a time the Prime Minister is touring the Middle East
Mr Johnson is privately furious at the way he has been hung out to dry simply for speaking plainly about Saudi Arabia’s dubious activities.
A close ally hit back last night: “Mr Rifkind wasn’t exactly the best foreign secretary this country has ever had. He should go back to whatever he is doing these days and stop sniping from the sidelines.”
Mr Johnson won backing last night from Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson, who said he was “absolutely right” to criticise Saudi Arabia.
She told BBC Radio 4’s The Westminster Hour: “I think Boris Johnson was absolutely right about what he said about proxy wars. And I agree with his analysis.
“Now, that might not be the position of the UK Government, but guess what - I am not in the UK Government, and I think he was right.”
In a speech on Saturday Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will say Mr Johnson “blurted out the reality” of Saudi Arabia’s brutal role in the Middle East turmoil, and repeat his call for Britain to stop selling them arms.
Another week, another gaffe by Britain's foreign minister Boris Johnson. But although he has annoyed Brussels and insulted Riyadh, Prime Minister Theresa May is keeping him on board -- at least for now.
With London's reluctance to outline its Brexit plan already irritating some European leaders, "BoJo's" blunders have only helped fuel the fire.
There was the interview in Czech newspaper Hospodarske Noviny, where he said it was "bollocks" to claim that freedom of movement of people was one of the founding principles of the European Union.
Then there was the "Prosecco" affair, in which Johnson told Italy's economic development minister that the country should support Britain's access to the European single market if it wants to keep selling its bubbly.
There was also the episode in September where Johnson told the Turkish president that he supported Ankara's EU candidacy, despite having warned during the Brexit campaign of an influx of Turks to the UK if Britain remained in Europe.
- Controlling loose cannon -
Further afield, the former London mayor has also caused trouble. In his latest faux-pas, at a conference in Rome last week, he accused close ally Saudi Arabia of engaging in "proxy wars". A video of his comments was posted on the Guardian website.
It was unfortunate timing for prime minister May, returning from a visit to Bahrain, where she assured the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) of her support against terrorism and an "aggressive" Iran.
Downing Street immediately pulled its foreign minister back into line, insisting that his comments reflected his "personal position" and not those of the government.
While humiliating for Johnson -- who is due to visit Saudi Arabia on Sunday -- the latest gaffe does not appear to have been career-shattering, with May preferring for now to have him in her government rather than out.
By doing so, say analysts, she can appease the hardline Brexiteers within her Conservative Party. Plus she can better control the loose cannon who had hoped to be prime minister in her stead.
- 'The dog was put down' -
Others are less forgiving of the undiplomatic diplomat.
"The rest of the world are entitled to know that when Boris Johnson, as Britain's foreign secretary, speaks, they are hearing the United Kingdom's foreign policy," former Conservative foreign minister Malcolm Rifkind told BBC radio on Friday.
Brian Klaas, a politics researcher at the London School of Economics (LSE), said even if Johnson is right about Saudi Arabia, "the problem is... he's not saying what Theresa May wants him to say".
"But it's not much of a surprise; nobody really expected Boris to be the most diplomatic diplomat," he told AFP.
Johnson's appointment in July to the high-profile post was met with astonishment at home and abroad.
Could the blustering 52-year-old with his mop of dishevelled blond hair, who likes to please a crowd and frequently hits the headlines, quit the provocations and behave himself for this serious role?
The qualities that kept him as mayor of London for eight years will not suffice for his new responsibilities on the global stage, warned Rifkind.
"As a foreign secretary you can't be a celebrity," he said, adding: "He might end up being more comfortable in another senior cabinet position."
During a prize-giving ceremony for the Spectator magazine, May quipped that she would get rid of Johnson when she no longer needed him, in a darkly humorous reference to the killing of a dog.
"Boris, the dog was put down... when its master decided it wasn?t needed any more," she told Johnson at the ceremony after he compared himself to a dog said to have been strangled by another top Conservative.
As Rifkind put it, the "jury's out" on Johnson's future as Britain's top diplomat
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