A popular Gravesend barber says he can fit Adam Holloway in next week after the Gravesham MP claimed an asylum seeker stopped him from getting his haircut.

The politician, who lived undercover in a refugee camp in Calais when he was a television journalist, made the bizarre comment in a speech on the way some asylum seekers treat their status in this country.

He remarked that it even caused him to go without a haircut, as his asylum seeker barber had gone on holiday.

He said: “We have people in his country who have come here, have claimed asylum, and then they go back on holiday in the places where they claims asylum from.

"I couldn’t have my haircut the other day for that reason.”

But now barber Kimoy Kirnon, of Kimoy's Cuts in Milton Road, Gravesend, says he can squeeze the MP in next week if he'd like to book an appointment.

"It's a busy time of year with all the children going back to school, so it would have to be next week, but we can probably do it.

"I've been here two years and I'm always busy."

During a ministerial visit last week, the Prime Minister said taking more refugees would not be a solution to the problem in the Middle East.

Mr Holloway said: “I think the Prime Minister is completely right when he says that receiving even more people is simply not the answer.

“I think much of the EU and the Germans are completely bonkers if they give ever-growing numbers of refugees and migrants, picked up in the Mediterranean or elsewhere, the right to settle in Europe.

“There are hundreds of millions of people in the borderlands of Europe, who are poor or affected by war, wanting better lives for their families.

“I think we’ve got to make it absolutely clear that you’ll not be allowed to live in Europe if you try to get into Europe by the back door.”

The statements were similar to those Mr Holloway had made in a column for the Sunday Express newspaper, last weekend, where he said: “It should not be the case that you only have to arrive in Europe to be allowed to stay, this is totally unsustainable.”

Mr Holloway, who has won the Gravesham seat in three consecutive elections, said his view was a sensible one.

He said: “This isn’t xenophobic – I think it’s moral, practical, fair and sustainable.”