GREATER Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has called for Boris Johnson to be removed from his role after comments on Libya, as he said the countries needed to cooperate ahead of the potential trial of Salman Abedi's brother.
Earlier this week the Foreign Secretary sparked outrage when he said the city of Sirte could be like Dubai if the Libyans could "clear the dead bodies away".
Burnham branded the gaffe "worse than embarrassing", particularly given reports Hashem Abedi, who is said to have played a "key role" in the Manchester Arena attack carried out by his brother on May 22, is due to stand trial in the country.
He said: "It is sensitive and I wouldn't want to go into too much detail on this but yes, it is sensitive.
"Yes, we are looking for cooperation from Libya and I do not think the person with responsibility for UK diplomacy can just go and shoot from the hip everywhere he goes."
He said he thought Johnson had "reached the end of the road" and was "actively damaging" the interests of Britain and Greater Manchester.
Burnham has called for the trial of Hashem Abedi, 20, to be held in the UK under British law.
Burnham compared Theresa May to former prime minister Gordon Brown when asked to comment on her party conference speech on Wednesday.
He said: "As somebody who served in Gordon Brown's government I saw echoes, it's like when bad luck's there it seems to follow you round.
"I do see a very, very loud echo of my time as a Cabinet minister in that period when nothing seems to go right."
But he said he did not think the Prime Minister should resign.
He said: "I have a lot of concerns about what the Government is doing, but I don't think the Tory party in the end will see it as in their interests to plunge the country into more confusion right now."
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