Senior Tories calling for Egyptian democracy activist Alaa Abdel Fattah to be deported from the UK are being reminded that it was their party who granted him British citizenship.
The government is facing calls from both the Tories and Reform to deport Abdel Fattah after old tweets from him emerged.
In the social media posts dating back to 2010, the British-Egyptian dual national called for violence towards “Zionists” and the police.
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These emerged just days after Abdel Fattah had arrived in the UK following years of imprisonment in Egypt.
The activist had been sentenced to five years behind bars in December 2021 having been accused of spreading fake news, an imprisonment the UN had branded a breach of international law.
During their time in power, the Conservatives had campaigned for Abdel Fattah’s release and granted him British citizenship through his London-born mother.
This happened in December 2021, when Priti Patel was home secretary.
So, many have been quick to remind the likes of Robert Jenrick, Chris Philp and Liz Truss about this.
During an appearance on Good Morning Britain on Monday, presenter Ranvir Singh put this very point to the shadow home secretary, who had been immigration minister under Patel in 2021.
Unsurprisingly, Jenrick got a much easier time during an interview with GB News, so it fell to people on X to highlight his dramatic switch in stance…
And it was far too easy to leave egg on Truss’ face after she decided the “human-rights/NGO industrial complex” (no, us neither) was too blame for Abdel Fattah being granted UK citizenship…
On Monday morning, the democracy activist apologised for the tweets.
He said in a statement: “I do understand how shocking and hurtful they are, and for that I unequivocally apologise.”
He continued: “I am shaken that, just as I am being reunited with my family for the first time in 12 years, several historic tweets of mine have been republished and used to question and attack my integrity and values, escalating to calls for the revocation of my citizenship.”