UK foreign minister says Sirte will be holiday destination after it 'clears the dead bodies'

Calls have been made for UK Foreign Minister Boris Johnson to be sacked after he made a tasteless joke about the victims of the Libyan government's campaign to capture Islamic State group stronghold last year. 

The gaffe-prone politician told a Conservative Party conference on Tuesday evening that Sirte - on Libya's coast - could become a holiday hotspot once they "clear the dead bodies away".

British businesses are looking to transform the bombed-out, former IS-held Sirte into "a new Dubai" he said.

"There's a group of UK business people, wonderful guys who want to invest in Sirte, on the coast - near where Gaddafi was actually captured and executed as some of you may have seen," he told the audience

"They literally have a brilliant vision to turn Sirte - with the help of the municipality of Sirte - to turn it into the next Dubai. The only thing they’ve got to do is clear the dead bodies away and then they'll be there."

The comment has shocked many who see it as an insult to the hundreds of civilians who died when the UN-backed government forces recaptured the city last December.

The bloody assault saw IS and government forces engaged house-to-house fighting for weeks, while the militants used civilians as human shields as air strikes and shelling pounded the city.

Once a stronghold of former leader Muammar Gadaffi, the Sirte battle has been one of the bloodiest in the six-years of violence that has plagued the country.

Johnson's comments were not helped by the UK's own role in supporting rebels with air strikes during the overthrew of the former Libyan dictator in 2011.

His remarks on the dead were met with laughter - and some shock - from the audience. Outside the Conservative Party conference condemnation was stronger.

"It is less than a year since Sirte was finally captured from Daesh [IS] by the Libyan Government of National Accord, a battle in which hundreds of government soldiers were killed and thousands of civilians were caught in the crossfire," said the Labour Party's Shadow Defence Minister Emily Thornberry, according to the Guardian newspaper.

"For Boris Johnson to treat those deaths as a joke - a mere inconvenience before UK business people can turn the city into a beach resort - is unbelievably crass, callous and cruel."

Guardian journalist Rowena Mason was one of the first people to pick up on the gaffe, which has become headline news in the UK.

— Rowena Mason (@rowenamason) October 3, 2017" style="color:#fff;" class="twitter-post-link" target="_blank">Twitter Post Boris Johnson really did just say Sirte in Libya will be a great tourist destination once they've "cleared the dead bodies" - v v bad taste — Rowena Mason (@rowenamason) October 3, 2017

Carl Bildt, co-chair for the European Council on Foreign Relations, mocked the UK minister in a tweet.

— Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) October 3, 2017" style="color:#fff;" class="twitter-post-link" target="_blank">Twitter Post It might be that Boris Johnson is slightly simplistic in his approach to rebuilding countries after war. Slightly. https://t.co/NWO1qRE1ZJ — Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) October 3, 2017

Journalist Dan Bloom suggested this was one gaffe too far for Boris.

— Dan Bloom (@danbloom1) October 3, 2017" style="color:#fff;" class="twitter-post-link" target="_blank">Twitter Post UPDATED: 'Disgrace!': Theresa May faces calls to sack Boris Johnson for his astonishing 'dead bodies' gaffe https://t.co/PTTen4QmWg — Dan Bloom (@danbloom1) October 3, 2017

Writer and pundit Owen Jones pointed out that a number of Tory attendees laughed at the joke.

— Owen Jones🌹 (@OwenJones84) October 3, 2017" style="color:#fff;" class="twitter-post-link" target="_blank">Twitter Post Here is a bunch of Tories laughing at Boris Johnson talking about clearing the dead bodies away in Libya pic.twitter.com/dQpOP7sfaS — Owen Jones🌹 (@OwenJones84) October 3, 2017