Watch the moment Home Office minister Chris Philp asked Question Time audience if Congo is a different county to Rwanda

Home Office minister Chris Philp shocked the Question Time audience during his appearance on the BBC show last night after he appeared to confuse the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda.

The policing minister took up the baton for the Tories on last night’s episode (April 25) of the popular BBC politics show but found himself in hot water when speaking to a member of the audience who questioned him on the government controversial Rwanda policy. An audience member, who told the panel that he and his family are from the DRC, which is currently in conflict with Rwanda.

He asked Philp: “Had my family members come from Goma (a city on the country’s border) on a crossing right now, would they then be sent back to the country they are supposedly warring – Rwanda? Does that make any sense to you?”

Philp seemed confused by the question from the off, replying by telling the audience member: “No, I think there’s an exclusion on people from Rwanda being sent to Rwanda.” The man reiterated again that his family were from a bordering country to Rwanda that is currently in conflict, asking whether the recently-passed asylum seeker policy would mean that those from countries in direct conflict with Rwanda would in fact be sent to the country they are at war with. Philp responded by asking: “Well, I mean, Rwanda is a different country to Congo isn’t it? It’s a different country?”

This led to exasperated laughter and visible shock from the room, who were taken back at him appearing to ask if Congo and Rwanda are two different countries. Cameras cut to Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting, who was also on the panel, looking aghast at Philp’s blunder.

The policing minister continued: “There is a clause in the legislation that says if somebody would suffer, I think the phrase is ‘serious and irreversible harm’ by being sent somewhere, they wouldn’t be sent. So there is that safety mechanism built into the legislation.”

Labour’s Yvette Cooper said she have “no words” for the moment, while MP Stephen Kinnock said: “First we had Thèrése Coffey not knowing that Kigali is the capital of Rwanda, and now we have Chris Philp not knowing that Congo is a different country to Rwanda… They're sending £576m to a country they can’t even pick out on a map…”