The policing minister was on BBC Question Time when a member of the audience asked him about the Rwanda bill.
The man was worried that people from the Democratic Republic of Congo seeking refuge in the UK could be sent on to Rwanda.
Heavy tensions broke out between the two countries in 2022 which have led to several alleged attacks.
But Mr Philp said in response to the question: “DR Congo is a different country to Rwanda, isn’t it?”.
An ally of Mr Philp suggested he had been posing a rhetorical question rather than asking if they are separate.
Mr Philp did go on to clarify that there is a clause in the bill that will prevent people being sent somewhere where they’d “suffer harm.”
