Dominic Raab has been ridiculed after publishing pictures of himself with “the Welsh government” – when he actually met Tory opposition leaders.
The gaffe-prone justice secretary was left red-faced when he tweeted about a meeting in Cardiff about his controversial diluting of human rights laws, to “restore some common sense” he said.
Mr Raab claimed the meeting was with “partners” in the government at the Senedd, which is run by Labour through a cooperation agreement with the nationalists of Plaid Cymru.
In fact, he met Simon Hart, the Tory Wales secretary, Andrew TC Davies, the Conservative group leader in the Senedd and other Tory members of the Welsh parliament.
Jo Stevens, Labour’s shadow Welsh secretary, said the blunder came hard-on-the-heels of Jacob Rees-Mogg being unable to name Mr Davies when put on the spot.
“Dominic Raab doesn’t even realise the Senedd members he’s been pictured with are from his own party and aren’t ‘Welsh Government partners’, Ms Stevens told The Independent.
“You couldn’t make it up. A perfect illustration of the Tories’ disinterest in Wales.”
Anna McMorrin, a Labour MP in Cardiff, accused Mr Raab of “more spin and lies”, adding: “Or are you actually fooled into thinking these lot are in government?”
The deputy prime minister was also ridiculed on Twitter, one Welsh resident posting “Did you actually speak to anyone in the Welsh government? Did anyone explain that the Welsh government is controlled by Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru?”
It is understood that Mr Raab did separately meet Mick Antoniw, the Wales counsel general, its chief legal officer, and Jane Hutt, the health minister. who are not captured in the pictures.
Mr Raab was demoted from foreign secretary last year, over his failure to prepare properly for the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban and has been criticised for a series of gaffes since.
He undermined Boris Johnson’s claim that he was working at the ‘wine and cheese’ event in the No 10 garden – and also admitted a separate Downing Street gathering was “a party” before rowing back.
