Kemi Badenoch has been accused of hypocrisy after she defended Israel’s decision to deny entry to two Labour MPs who were detained by immigration authorities and flown back to the UK.
Israel’s immigration authority said Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang were refused entry to the West Bank because they planned to “spread hate speech”.
Badenoch defended the decision because “countries should be able to control their borders”.
David Lammy, the foreign secretary, said her remarks were “disgraceful” and pointed out that China had sanctioned five current Conservative MPs.
Badenoch later hit back at Lammy, saying there was a significant difference between the authoritarian regime in China and the democratically elected Israeli government. She said Labour MPs should be prioritising Britain’s national interest as she referred to a group of predominantly Labour MPs who launched a campaign to build an airport in Kashmir.
Badenoch wrote on X: “Unlike China, Israel is our ally and a democracy. A good Foreign Sec would be able to make that distinction.
“Perhaps Labour MPs could put UK national interest first and do their jobs instead of campaigning for airports in Kashmir or promoting Hamas propaganda in parliament.”
Richard Fuller, a Conservative frontbencher, expressed a very different opinion to the leader of his party, telling Times Radio: “Any member of parliament who goes on an official trip should be, I would think, welcomed in any country.”
Mohamed and Yang were detained and questioned after flying from Luton airport with two aides on Saturday afternoon. They were later released and left Israel at 6am local time on Sunday.
The Israeli immigration authority rejected a claim by the MPs and the Foreign Office that the politicians were part of a parliamentary delegation.
“No official in Israel acknowledges the arrival of the said delegation,” the authority said in a statement.
“It also emerged in a survey conducted with the passengers that the purpose of their arrival was to document the security forces and spread hate speech against Israel.”
Lammy described the decision as “unacceptable, counterproductive and deeply concerning”.
He said: “I have made clear to my counterparts in the Israeli government that this is no way to treat British parliamentarians and we have been in contact with both MPs tonight to offer our support.
“The UK government’s focus remains securing a return to the ceasefire and negotiations to stop the bloodshed, free the hostages and end the conflict in Gaza.”
Asked whether Israel was entitled to deny them entry, Badenoch told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show: “Countries should be able to control their borders. What I think is shocking is that we have MPs in Labour who other countries will not allow through. I think that’s very significant.”
The Conservative leader added: “If you look at the reasons why the Israeli government has given for why they’re not letting them in, they don’t believe that they’re going to comply with their laws. MPs do not have diplomatic immunity.”
She added: “We do the same thing. There are many people that we don’t allow into our country and I don’t think we should be setting precedents in a different way.”
Lammy suggested Badenoch’s comments were hypocritical, given her party’s strong opposition to China’s decision to sanction British politicians who have criticised Beijing’s human rights abuses.
Addressing her directly on X, the foreign secretary wrote: “It’s disgraceful you are cheerleading another country for detaining and deporting two British MPs. Do you say the same about Tory MPs banned from China? This government will continue to stand up for the rights of our MPs to speak their mind, whatever their party.”
Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, accused Badenoch of “unbelievably poor judgment” over the comments, adding on X: “Yet another complete shocker.”
Mohamed, the MP for Sheffield Central, was born in Yemen and moved to the UK with her family when she was two. In October she was appointed to the foreign affairs committee.
Yang, the MP for Earley and Woodley in Berkshire, is a British-Chinese economist and former journalist for the Financial Times.
In a joint statement, they said: “We’re astounded at the unprecedented step taken by the Israeli authorities to refuse British MPs entry on our trip to visit the occupied West Bank.
“It is vital that parliamentarians are able to witness, first-hand, the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory.
“We had come on an MPs’ delegation to visit humanitarian aid projects and communities in the West Bank, with UK charity partners who have over a decade of experience in taking parliamentary delegations.”
The MPs, who were both elected last year, acknowledged they had spoken out in parliament about the conflict in Gaza and potential breaches of international law.
“Parliamentarians should feel free to speak truthfully in the House of Commons, without fear of being targeted,” they added.
