BBC Audience Stunned As Tory Minister Asks: ‘Are Congo And Rwanda Different Countries?’

Policing Minister Chris Philp left viewers laughing in disbelief during BBC One’s Question Time Thursday after an awkward retort to a Congolese audience member’s question about the Rwanda deportation bill.

One audience member asked the minister whether his family members from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) might have been sent to Rwanda if the scheme had been active then. The man further explained that the volatile border situation with neighbouring DRC would make Rwanda less safe for Congolese deportees.

A key basis of the Rwanda bill was the government’s insistence that the country was a safe place to deport asylum seekers to.

“No, I think there’s an exclusion on people from Rwanda being sent to Rwanda,” the minister replied, missing the question.

The man repeated his question: “They’re not from Rwanda, they’re from Congo. They’re from Congo. They’re supposedly warring [with] these people from Rwanda. Are they then going to be sent to Rwanda if they came here on a crossing?

“From Congo?” Philp asked.

“Yeah,” the man replied.

“Well, Rwanda is a different country of Congo, isn’t it?” the minister asked to gasps from the audience then laughter.

Fellow panellists, including Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting, were visibly shocked.

The incident spotlights ongoing debates about the UK government’s controversial Rwanda policy. According to this legislation pushed through this week, any asylum seeker who has entered the UK “illegally” from a country deemed safe, like France, after January 1, 2022, may find themselves on a one-way trip to Rwanda.

An associate of Philp later defended him, speaking to the BBC to claim the minister’s question was rhetorical, aimed at clarifying the discussion rather than expressing genuine confusion. This gaffe, however, has only intensified scrutiny of the government’s stance on asylum procedures and their ethical implications.

Watch above on BBC.