The National:

NOT everyone knows the capital of Rwanda. But then, not everyone is a senior member of the ruling Tory party hoping to deport people there.

Therese Coffey, who incredibly served as deputy prime minister under Liz Truss, humiliated herself in Parliament on Wednesday evening by making clear she hasn’t the faintest idea about Rwanda.

Coffey’s embarrassment came after she attempted to get one over on Labour’s shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper.

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“I have to say I was somewhat astonished by the speech of the shadow home secretary who can’t even get the name of the country right,” she started.

“Talking about the ‘Kigali government’. We are talking about Rwanda. A respected country.”

Rwanda is so respected by Coffey that she is blissfully unaware that its capital is Kigali.

The moment was shared on social media, and sparked widespread disbelief.

“Couldn’t quite believe this but here it is, in all its excruciating glory,” Thomas Ingleson-Grey said, sharing a clip of Coffey’s speech.

“Historians will wonder how on earth people who are just not very bright became so powerful in the land … They are unfit for opposition let alone government,” former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell said.

Carol Vorderman quipped: “Therese Coffey Vs Lee Anderson. Tory ‘Dumb and Dumber’.

“Re Rwanda, she was ‘astonished’ Labour ‘can't even get the name of the country right’, when Yvette Cooper made reference to Kigali.

“Kigali is the capital of Rwanda. Coffey thinks it's the letter R.”

Another user added: “This was pure comedy. Coffey proved she is a [clown]. She thought she was acting clever.”

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Labour councillor John Haywood commented: "Former Tory minister attempts to criticise a Labour shadow minister for referring to the Rwandan government by *check notes* the name of the Rwandan capital city, Kigali.

"And Therese Coffey was supposedly the intellectual ballast of Truss' team. Embarrassing."

Journalist Kevin Schofield wrote: “So just to recap: one Tory MP didn't vote against the government last night because Labour MPs were laughing at him, and another doesn't know the capital of Rwanda is Kigali.

“What a party.”

But later, presumably after seeing the mockery all around her, Coffey sought to explain the mishap.

In a post on Twitter/X, she said: “Some keyboard snipers moaning that I criticised the opposition for referring to the Kigali government, not the Rwandan government.

“I would not call the French government, the Paris government nor the Scottish government, the Edinburgh government. Why disrespect Rwanda?”

Meanwhile ... the Tory MP who didn’t vote against the Rwanda bill because of the mean Labour MPs giggling? Lee Anderson, of course.

Anderson resigned as Tory depute chair over the Rwanda bill, and then couldn’t even bring himself to vote against it.