Foreign Office chiefs have been accused of a cover-up to disguise that Boris Johnson did order the notorious rescue of dogs and cats from Afghanistan, after a second whistleblower came forward.
In a stormy evidence session, the top civil servants failed to back up the prime minister’s claim that he was not involved in the decision – instead saying they did not know.
But MPs cast doubt on why Philip Barton, the Foreign Office’s top civil servant, and Nigel Casey, the special representative for Afghanistan, had not established who gave the order to give priority to Pen Farthing’s Nowzad animal charity.
Tom Tugendhat, the Tory chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee called it “a little bit odd”, telling the pair: “It makes me wonder whether you deliberately didn’t want to know.”
Labour’s Chris Bryant went further, alleging the Foreign Office believed Mr Johnson had given the order, as leaked emails – sent as Kabul fell to the Taliban last August – suggested.
“You don’t really want to say that today because, if you are to say that, you are basically saying that the prime minister and the defence secretary are liars,” Mr Bryant said.
Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, has also denied being behind the rescue of the 94 dogs and 68 cats, while insisting the claim that the prime minister ordered him to act is “nonsense”.
But Sir Philip said he was “not prepared to speculate” on who gave the authorisation – while Mr Casey told the committee: “I would love to know who made the decision.”
Earlier, Josie Stewart, who worked in the Foreign Office for seven years, became the second whistleblower to public to say it was “widespread knowledge” that Mr Johnson gave the order.
The direction was referred to in multiple messages sent around the crisis centre set up to try to help the tens of thousands of desperate Afghans trying to flee, she said.
It was hugely controversial because the animals were taken out even as many Afghans – including some who helped the British government during the occupation – were left behind.
In further evidence of the prime minister’s involvement, his aide, Trudy Harrison, contacted a private charter company to try to secure a plane to help with the evacuation.
But Sir Philip said it was only an “assumption” that Mr Johnson had given the authorisation, because it had come through the National Security Adviser, Stephen Lovegrove.
Mr Lovegrove reports to the Cabinet Office, which works hand in glove with No 10, which made the assumption “understandable”, the committee was told.
Mr Casey conceded that the evacuation of the dogs and cats was “the only time” that his team had required outside authorisation about part of the evacuation.
And he acknowledged he may have deleted crucial emails about the controversy, arguing his inbox was “exploding” at the time and he had to prioritise.
“It’s quite possible that I weeded out other emails which were copied to me, not for action but for action by other people, in an attempt to make sure that I could focus on those emails,” Mr Casey said.
