Christian Democrat MP accuses British ambassador of hypocrisy over religious tolerance

Christian Democrat MP and head of the European Affairs Committee Ondřej Benešík has accused the British ambassador to Czechia, Matt Field, of describing Czechia and Czechs as being intolerant. In an interview with the Czech daily Deník N published on Friday, he said that the British ambassador was "trying to educate us" about tolerance while his own country, in his words, "tolerates intolerant Islam".

The interview followed a social media post that Mr Benešík made on X, which has since been deleted, in which he tagged the British ambassador and asked him what he had to say about a video of a recently elected British Muslim MP "swearing in", or taking the parliamentary oath of allegiance to the country, using the Koran. The ambassador responded by saying he wasn't quite sure whether he understood the question, but that in the UK, MPs can swear in either using a religious text of their choosing or they can choose to take a non-religious solemn affirmation.