Kay Burley left a minister squirming on Monday over the thousands of British nationals who still trapped in Sudan.
The UK government, along with other governments around the world, evacuated its diplomats and staff from Sudan on Sunday as two rival generals continue to fight one another for power of the country for the ninth day.
But there are still around 4,000 British passport holders still trapped in Sudan – and foreign secretary James Cleverly has warned that the government is “severely limited” in its ability to help those left behind.
So Burley, the Sky News presenter, asked international development minister Andrew Mitchell about the government’s slow response for its own citizens, despite removing more than 1,200 government personnel on Sunday.
He told Burley: “All I can tell is every single option is being explored in detail, and the moment it is possible to change the travel advice and move them, we will.”
She pushed: “How can you bring out diplomats but not citizens?”
“We have a duty of care to every British citizen, but we have a very specific duty of care to our own diplomats they are our staff.
“They were in acute danger,” he said, adding that diplomatic residences had been deliberately targeted, with some staff held at gunpoint.
But Burley just pointed out: “With respect minister, the first thing that any government has to do in ensure the safety of its citizens, its nationals.
“You’re saying that you can bring out some that are more important to you than others. You’re going to tell me that’s not what you say, but that’s how I’m interpreting it this morning.”
“I don’t think that is the right interpretation,” Mitchell replied, saying that it’s not just UK nationals who are stuck there but “everybody is trapped there”.
He explained: “The position across Khartoum is extremely dangerous, and that is why we advise people to stay indoors whenever they can.
“Of course, if they [Britons] feel they can move safely, they must make their own judgement.”
He encouraged everyone there to register with the UK government online, saying they would receive at least one message a day.
But, Mitchell continued: “Unfortunately, not all these messages are getting through because of the atmospherics in Khartoum.”
He claimed that the UK has been in a “24/7 crisis mode” for the last week, and that the government is well aware that those still there are “in danger”.
But, Mitchell suggested that when it came the “absolute no.1 requirement is to get a ceasefire”.
Still, he suggested they are doing “everything we can, and will do everything we can” to get them out.
Burley asked what it would take for the government to order an airlift for those who are left, asking: “How do you quantify that danger?”
He again repeated that the UK diplomats had been in particularly terrible danger.
But, the Sky News host just added: “The Brits will have to hide under the bed until that ceasefire is in place?”
Mitchell said: “The Brits should take the travel advice that we have issued – they should take that travel advice and we will do everything we can to help them, in every way we can.”
“It’s very dangerous and we have to be careful what advice we give.”
Burley pointed out that the Germans managed to get some of their civilians out, to which he replied: ” I should emphasise that the number of Germans there is very, very much smaller than the number of Brits.”
Similarly, BBC Radio 4′s Today programme Mishal Husain asked if Mitchell was confident if something could be done in the next week for people.
However, he said it would not be responsible to make such promises right now.