Kay Burley’s textbook one-two takedown of James Cleverly was magnificently done

Over on Sky News Kay Burley was asking foreign secretary – foreign secretary! – James Cleverly about people attempting to come to the UK on small boats.

In particular, whether or not it was illegal. And it was the first part of a textbook one-two which left the Conservative MP on the ropes. You can almost hear the gears in his brain grind to a halt as he attempts to work out an answer.

Burley, "You say, coming over on a small boat is illegal."

Cleverly, "Yes."

Burley, "So why don't we arrest them?"

Cleverly, "Because.. because.. uh uh uh.. the.. the.. the.." pic.twitter.com/Tr8mxLvQNn

— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) April 27, 2023

If any special advisers watching from the sidelines had an ounce of humanity they would surely have thrown in the towel at that point.

Here are just a few of the things people said about it.

1.

.@KayBurley: “You say coming over on a small boat is illegal”

.@JamesCleverly: “Yea”

.@KayBurley: “So why don’t we arrest them?”

.@JamesCleverly “ because…em…because…em…the point is…”

THEY DON’T EVEN KNOW THEIR OWN LAWS. #SuellaBraverman pic.twitter.com/VgdQe37umJ

— Dr. Jennifer A. Cassidy (@OxfordDiplomat) April 27, 2023

2.

Reminder that they have absolutely no idea what they’re doing. This is our Foreign Secretary for God’s sake. https://t.co/jeGYPqJDRG

— Brendan May (@bmay) April 27, 2023

3.

James Cleverley can’t say people coming over in boats should be arrested because he knows it is not illegal.

Claiming asylum is a right under Article 14 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights pic.twitter.com/6YjEBAkcKx

— Best for Britain (@BestForBritain) April 27, 2023

4.

https://twitter.com/reece_dinsdale/status/1651494865610366977?s=20

5.

James Cleverly.
The UK Foreign Secretary at a time when the world is in turmoil.
I leave you to draw your own conclusions. https://t.co/8CE0S8meYj

— Clare Hepworth OBE (@Hepworthclare) April 27, 2023

6.

Foreign Secretary is a spot of bother here … questioning the legality of the government’s plans to deal with asylum seekers is ‘semantics’ apparently… pic.twitter.com/aoqj0joCpK

— Alexis Conran (@alexisconran) April 27, 2023

7.

https://twitter.com/JohnWest_JAWS/status/1651504916983164929?s=20

8.

This where Kay Burley is brilliant. Replay this to any politician who knowingly lies about any illegality in arriving here on a boat. To be fair, though, Cleverly is one of the dumbest of them all. https://t.co/hO0Wrc6JAt

— Lord Urban Bongo KGB MDANT (@Dogs_Dad) April 27, 2023

9.

https://twitter.com/hewitson10/status/1651480828390658048?s=20

And it took us back to another classic one-two takedown, this time Burley’s Sky News colleague Sophy Ridge, talking to Cleverly’s fellow cabinet minister, Home Secretary Suella Braverman.

"If an asylum seeker enters the UK illegally and admits they made a mistake, should they be allowed to come back six days later? The reason I ask is that you resigned for breaking ministerial rules then came back six days later."

Sophy Ridge to Suella Braverman. pic.twitter.com/wOJy5a8sFg

— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) April 2, 2023

Double knockout.

Source Twitter @implausibleblog