PM slaps down Boris Johnson and Michael Gove over jailed Briton Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Boris Johnson and Michael Gove have received a slapdown from No 10, as it clarified that a British woman detained in Iran was on holiday.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: "The Government’s position on this is clear – she was there on holiday and for no other purpose."

Mr Gove is the latest Cabinet minister to be criticised for his handling of the case after he said on Sunday he did not know why Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was in Iran – more than a week after Foreign Secretary Mr Johnson was forced to correct his claim that she was "training journalists".

Mrs May’s spokesman said the Prime Minister had personally spoken to Iranian president Hassan Rouhani on two occasions about the case, most recently at the UN General Assembly in September.

Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry will ask a minister to explain the Government’s handling of the case in the commons later.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband, Richard Ratciffe, has asked for Mr Johnson to go to Iran with him and to grant his wife diplomatic protection.

No 10 confirmed it was "an option being considered" – but Sky News understands it is unlikely due to the implications for other cases. The Foreign Office would need to take legal advice on how it would work in her case.

Mr Johnson has been under sustained pressure after making comments that could prolong Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s sentence.

He told MPs the 38-year-old was in Iran to train journalists despite her family’s claim she was in the country to visit relatives with her daughter.

Jeremy Corbyn attacked Mr Johnson for his comments, calling for him to be sacked for "putting our citizens at risk".

But Mr Ratcliffe, who spoke to his wife over the weekend, said it would not be in her interests for Mr Johnson to go, as he is now fully aware of the need to work to win her freedom.

Mr Johnson, arriving for a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels, said all consular cases are "very sensitive" but the "key thing to understand" was the Foreign Office was "working very hard intensively and impartially on all those cases".

Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer told Sky News there was a "strong case" for Mr Johnson to be sacked and any strong PM would have done so before now, but he acknowledged Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s family’s "acutely difficult position".

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested in April 2016, and jailed for five years amid claims she was working against the Iranian regime – which she denies.

Mr Johnson’s comments have been widely reported by state media in Iran and held up as justification for her incarceration.

The Labour MP who represents the family’s constituency, Tulip Siddiq, told Sky News that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was "inconsolable", "sobbing down the phone" to her husband and "couldn’t believe (Mr Johnson) could make comments that would endanger her life".

Mr Ratcliffe said his wife was taken to hospital for tests after complaining of "stabbing pains" in her breasts.

Lumps were discovered which a specialist said may be benign but she has been put under close surveillance as she has a family history of breast cancer, and because the stress she is under could make her more at risk of developing the disease.

(c) Sky News 2017: PM slaps down Boris Johnson and Michael Gove over jailed Briton Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe