School of Politics and International Relations

Professor Tim Bale, Blunders by May's top ministers put her on spot

6 November 2017

Theresa May’s top diplomat has been accused of risking a longer jail sentence for a British mother held in Iran. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson made the mistake of claiming that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian charity worker who was arrested in April 2016, was “simply teaching people journalism”, when she has always insisted that she was on a family holiday. Professor Tim Bale comments on whether this is another reflection of the Prime Minister’s weakness. “One is beginning to wonder what somebody would have to do to get the boot from the cabinet,” he says.
More »