• Reporter 21
• 23 Oct, 2021

The British-Iranian dual national, who was detained for six years in Iran, said she should have been back in the UK “six years ago”.

Speaking in parliament on Monday at her first press conference, she said she did “not really agree” that she should be thanking the foreign secretary for her return.

“I have seen five foreign secretary changes over the course of six years. That is unprecedented given the politics of the UK,” she told the assembled media.

“But I was told, many many times, ‘We’re going to get you home.’ That never happened. So there was a time when I felt like, do you know what, I’m not even going to trust you because I’ve been told so many times that I’m going to be taken home. But that never happened! Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch has suggested the British Empire brought “good things” to communities as she urged telling “both sides” of history.

Having gone to school in Lagos, Nigeria, she said she was taught about Britain’s past with a nuanced description that has influenced her view on the former empire.

“There were terrible things that happened during the British Empire, there were other good things that happened, and we need to tell both sides of the story,” she told Times Radio.

“I think my upbringing and schooling in another country has really influenced the way that I look at these things.

“There wasn’t any sort of attempt to describe the British Empire as this awful, terrible thing that oppressed and victimised us.”