British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has been slapped down by a senior colleague after saying a Libyan city could become the next Dubai once it had cleared the dead bodies away.
Johnson is facing calls for his sacking over the comments on the fringes of the Conservative conference.
Speaking at the conference in Manchester, Johnson said the Libyan city of Sirte had "real potential" and could become "the next Dubai" thanks to a group of British business people who were willing to invest in the area.
"The only thing they have got to do is clear the dead bodies away," he said, before laughing.
Damian Green, the de facto deputy prime minister, rebuked Johnson and said his comments were "unacceptable".
He told Britain's Sky News: "Everyone, including Boris, needs to be careful in their use of language."
As the First Secretary of State toured the television and radio studios to talk about Prime Minister Theresa May's conference speech, he faced repeated questions about Johnson's remarks.
He told BBC 5 Live Breakfast: "Let me be clear it was not an acceptable use of ... it was not a sensitive use of language."
Tory former minister Anna Soubry said Johnson is "embarrassing & PM should sack him".
Heidi Allen, a Tory MP who represents South Cambridgeshire, tweeted: "100% unacceptable from anyone, let alone foreign sec. Boris must be sacked for this. He does not represent my party."
In December, Libyan militias regained Sirte from Islamic State. In August, the corpses of 25 people were recovered from various parts of the coastal city.
The incident for the gaffe-prone foreign secretary comes just days after images were broadcast by Channel 4 in Britain of Johnson reciting a poem that appears to insult Buddhism at Myanmar's most sacred Buddhist site.
Johnson wasn't willing to back down from his comments late Tuesday though, letting loose on Twitter himself at his critics.
"Shame people with no knowledge or understanding of Libya want to play politics with the appallingly dangerous reality in Sirte," he said.
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