Kemi Badenoch has hit back in strong terms at claims – including by some of her MPs – that the seizure of a Russian shadow fleet tanker amounts to a PR stunt. Oh dear…
There was speculation and attack over the weekend after the tanker was seized. Tory MP Ben Obese-Jecty jumped on it and said:
“There are serious and legitimate questions about the authenticity of the footage released by the MOD of the interdiction of the Russian Shadow Fleet vessel this morning. How is the cameraman ahead of the Marines clearing the stairwell to be able to film them coming towards him. How has the cameraman gone past the open doors of rooms that haven’t yet been cleared?
How much of this has been staged for the cameras? I don’t doubt that a Russian tanker was seized and that the operation carried significant risk. I do question the PR and the desperate need for a win by the Government at the Royal Marines’ expense.”
Badenoch is having none of it. She said today:
“I’m not going to be disdainful of our military and call something extraordinary that they did a PR stunt. I think that that is extremely disrespectful. I think that if we start playing around with actions of the military in this way, we’re actually doing down our brave soldiers. So I will not even entertain that.
I think that the fact that they boarded a Russian vessel would only have been done for operational reasons which they decided. And I don’t think that we should be dragging the military into politics in this way…
We need to stop this conspiracy theory nonsense where we look at every action that’s been done by the military as some kind of you know false flag operation… I think it is quite right that we allow them to do their job without dragging them into politics.”
As the saying goes – If a Russian tanker is seized in an ocean and no one is there to film it…
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”