A Labour backbencher has accused the Conservative Party of “petty party politics” over its response to Israel’s decision not to allow two MPs entry over the weekend.
Two Labour parliamentarians, Yuan Yang and Abtisam Mohamed, were rejected after flying to Israel on their way to the occupied West Bank.
Israel said they were refused entry because they planned to “spread hate speech” against the country.
Although this is a claim both the MPs and the government have denied, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch caused a row on Sunday by defending Israel’s actions and saying that “countries should be able to control their borders”.
Following this, on the BBC’s Politics Live, presenter Jo Coburn asked shadow cabinet minister Andrew Bowie: “Do you think two Labour MPs were on a mission to spread hate speech in Israel, or the occupied West Bank?”
“I don’t know the particular situation of these particular MPs,” Bowie replied, before claiming there have been “extreme” comments from a range of parties in parliament.
He continued: “I can understand why a country like Israel is far more reluctant to allow people into that country given the situation they find themselves in right now, but every country has a right to determine who enters its borders.”
But the whole time Bowie was talking, Labour MP Chris Curtis was rolling his eyes and shaking his head.
He said: “These are friends of mine, they are decent, hard-working MPs who would stand up in the interest of the UK, who have never said anything close to hate speech about any country, let alone the Israeli government.”
Curtis echoed the foreign secretary David Lammy’s claim that it is “completely unacceptable” for Israel to act in such a way, adding that it is “counterproductive”, too.
He continued: “There used to be issues in this country where we put the interests of Britain before petty party politics.
“The idea that the Conservative Party no longer believes in standing up for democratically elected British parliamentarians I think I really shows a drift in quite a dangerous direction of travel.”
Bowie hit back: “That’s quite obviously not what Kemi Badenoch was saying yesterday, however we cannot control how other countries control their borders.
“Israel took a decision on this. They’ve given their reasons for it.”
“You could have come out and put yourself on the side of British parliamentarians,” Curtis cut in.