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Boris Johnson’s visit to Afghan crisis centre is giving people major ‘The Thick of It’ vibes

Boris Johnson’s visit to Afghan crisis centre is giving people major ‘The Thick of It’ vibes

Boris Johnson, the prime minister, and Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, have been branded “inhuman” as footage of them visiting an Afghanistan crisis centre drew comparisons to the office sitcom, The Thick of It.

The pair visited the centre just days after an ISIS terror attack hit Kabul Airport, with British officials continuing to evacuate civilians and personnel out of a country now under control of the Taliban.

In a clip shared by BBC Newsnight, Johnson can be seen asking those in the room: “Are you the guys who have been inundated with all the emails from everywhere in the world saying, ‘please help my son, mother in Afghanistan?’

“I’ve had a few of those.”

Another section of the video showed Raab and Johnson talking to someone from the centre, who described how there had been a “lot of distressed people saying their families had been left behind”.

In response, the foreign secretary said: “Do we know if the crowd has thinned out yet because of the terrorist attack? I thought it was extraordinary that they all stayed.”

“Amazing, amazing, yes,” added Johnson.

“I think there are still people who are trying to get in, but a lot of them have dispersed, or gone back home because of our advice to them,” the woman responded.

The pair’s interactions at the crisis centre have since been criticised and ridiculed online, with Twitter users describing their demeanour as “astonishing” and “shockingly blasé”:

If it isn’t The Thick of It, then people were comparing it to a spoof, or another TV comedy:

Then again, who needs satire and sitcoms when some feel politicians make a mockery of themselves already?

dominic raabafghanistanafghanprime ministerforeign secretaryboris johnson
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