Markus Andrews

Dominic Raab is facing calls to resign after he reportedly failed to make a vital call over the evacuation of Afghan interpreters while he was on holiday — as the crisis unfolded in the region.The foreign secretary, who faced severe criticism during an emergency Commons debate yesterday, returned to the UK from his overseas trip on Monday, after the fall of the Afghan capital, Kabul, to the Taliban.According to the Daily Mail, the cabinet minister, who was said to be holidaying on the Greek island of Crete, was advised last Friday to urgently contact his counterpart in the Afghan government as the the militant group seized key cities of the country.The newspaper claimed officials at the Foreign Office suggested he needed to request assistance from the then-foreign minister Hanif Atmar in aiding interpreters who had links to the British military forces.However, officials were told Mr Raab was unavailable and did not make the call. Instead, it was requested that Lord Goldsmith — the on-duty Foreign Office minister — should speak to the Afghan minister.The Afghan foreign ministry declined to set up an immediate call between Mr Atmar and the junior minister, however, and did not speak until at least the next day with crucial time lost, the Daily Mail added.The Foreign Office did not immediately respond when contacted by The Independent, but a department source told the Daily Mail: “The foreign secretary was engaged on a range of other calls and this one was delegated to another minister”.Seizing on the report, Lisa Nandy, the shadow foreign secretary, said the foreign secretary should be “ashamed”, warning: “The prime minister has serious questions to answer over why he remains in the job.”She added: “What could possibly have been more important than safeguarding the legacy of two decades of sacrifice and hard-won victories in Afghanistan? While the foreign secretary lay on a sun lounger, the Taliban advanced on Kabul and 20 years of progress was allowed to unravel in a matter of hours.”Deputy leader Angela Rayner added: “He couldn’t even make one phone call? Why is he still in the job this morning?”Layla Moran, the Liberal Democrats’ foreign affairs spokesperson, went further, saying:“Dominic Raab must resign today. If he does not, the Prime Minister should finally show some leadership, and sack him.“Right now, there are interpreters across Afghanistan who are surrounded by the Taliban and fearing the worst. All the foreign secretary had to do was leave the beach and pick up the phone. He did not.“He has shamed Britain and is no longer fit to represent our country. Dominic Raab wasn’t just asleep at the wheel. He was wilfully complacent and will go down as one of the worst foreign secretaries in history.”Questioned on the report, however, the defence secretary Ben Wallace suggested on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the Afghan government was “melting away quicker than ice”.“A phone call to an Afghan minister at that time would have not made a blind bit of difference,” the cabinet minister said.“I do know for sure because last Friday what we were absolutely worried about and in turn were unsure about is whether the airport would remain open. That was at the front of everyone’s mind.“Without a functioning airport we were going to get nobody out no matter how many phone calls you made to a disappearing government. I can tell you that for sure.”Earlier this week Mr Raab claimed no one saw the swift Taliban takeover “coming” — admitting the government was caught “off-guard” — and suggested he would not have taken a holiday overseas in “retrospect”.He insisted he was engaged in Cobra meetings virtually and speaking to foreign counterparts on an “hour-by-hour basis”, adding: “I left Afghanistan as the situation deteriorated and demanded it. We’ve been monitoring the situation in Afghanistan since the 2020 Doha agreement”.“We didn’t predict we would be doing this on this scale because of the Taliban takeover, but look in retrospect of course I wouldn’t have gone on holiday if I had known.”A British holidaymaker told the Daily Telegraph that Mr Raab was relaxing on a beach on the Greek island of Crete on the day the Afghan capital was seized. “It was definitely him,” the source told the newspaper.“I’m not political and obviously accept everyone is allowed a holiday. But the foreign secretary shouldn’t be on the beach on the very day Afghanistan is imploding.” More

A Conservative peer has been criticised after claiming the UK’s enemies have been bolstered by the country not having “confidence” in its values and instead “caving in” to left wing issues such as Black Lives Matter during an emergency debate on Afghanistan. Lord Andrew Robathan told a recalled House of Lords that Britain must focus on restoring its place in the world following the disaster, which saw the Taliban capture Afghanistan at lightning speed, following the US and UK withdrawal. “We need to focus on restoring the standing of the West, of Nato and of Britain, and our values around the world,” he said. “We need to show confidence in our values, our history and our society and be proud of our history, not apologising the whole time and caving in to incredibly ignorant left-wing activists, such as Black Lives Matter, elsewhere. Our enemies sense our collapse in confidence and our weakness,” he said.Crossbench peer Lord Simon Woolley later responded: “My Lords, let me first say shame on Lord Robathan to make make cheap, divisive remarks in this important debate about Afghanistan by claiming that Black Lives Matter is somehow against the interests of the UK. “Black Lives Matter is about equality, diversity and decency – something he has lacked today.”Campaigning group Windrush Lives said, of Lord Robathan’s comments: “These types of views tend to cut across to all other non-white causes, pressure groups etc, which is how Lord Robathan managed to shoehorn a sideswipe at BLM into this unrelated and very serious emergency situation.” Lord Woolley later told The Independent: “On the most important parliamentary debate that I’ve been involved in, it was gut wrenching to hear Lord Robathan’s divisive remarks made on a day in which the Lords were focused on Afghans – who most of us felt had been let down by the west.” “Robathan sought to use the stage to demonise all those who have fought for racial justice in a most despicable way.”While addressing the house, Lord Robathan also dismissed Afghanistan as a “tribal country” and took aim at its religion.“We have never understood Afghanistan – it is more than a foreign country, it is totally different,” he said.“It is a tribal country, it has tribal elders, a religion which we don’t entirely understand, it can be very backward and has some barbaric practices.” When approached for comment, Lord Robathan told The Independent: “My comments have nothing to do with race equality. I was speaking about the collapse of confidence in Western society and values, which will have Putin, and others who wish us ill, laughing at us.“BLM wants to end the capitalist system, so I understand, as well as “defund the police”.” More

The UK government must be ready to accept “tens of thousands” of Afghan refugees fleeing persecution in their country in the months ahead, Boris Johnson has been warned.Charities and MPs from all sides have warned that greater action is needed after the government pledged to take just 5,000 people fleeing the Taliban over the next year.Today The Independent backs calls for Downing Street to be more ambitious in its plan to resettle Afghans at risk of losing their lives in the Taliban takeover after western troops withdrew.Our Refugees Welcome campaign is calling for the government to offer sanctuary to as many Afghans as possible, and for local authorities and charities devoted to their welfare to be given the strongest of support.The government has committed to giving 5,000 people refuge under the Afghanistan citizens’ resettlement scheme in the coming year – with a vague ambition to provide sanctuary to a total of 20,000 Afghans over the “long term”.Refugee charities have told The Independent the short-term commitment was “too little” to meet the scale of the immediate crisis. Safe Passage International said the government should try to resettle at least 20,000 in the months ahead.Beth Gardiner-Smith, chief executive of Safe Passage International said: “The resettlement scheme announced fails to match the scale and pace needed. Britain can and should do much more now. We urge the government to resettle a minimum of 20,000 as soon as possible.”Tim Naor Hilton, chief executive of Refugee Action, said the scheme “simply doesn’t go far enough” and risked becoming “a total farce”. He added: “We know it would be possible to at least double this commitment to 10,000 refugees in the first year, with the ambition of increasing that number in years to come.”The British Red Cross also called on the government to expand its scheme. “Five thousand people over the next year is a good start, but this new scheme for Afghan refugees should be part of a wider programme supporting at least 10,000 refugees from around the world to reach the safety of the UK each year,” said chief executive Mike Adamson.In scathing comments in the Commons, former prime minister Theresa May said the UK had a responsibility to deal with the consequences of the military pull-out, adding: “We boast about Global Britain – but where is Global Britain on the streets of Kabul?”Senior MPs warned Mr Johnson he would have to rethink the resettlement scheme and be willing to accept tens of thousands of fleeing Afghans in the coming months.Conservative MP David Davis said the UK should be willing to take in more than 50,000 people if the next few months if necessary, given the level of imminent danger faced by those who worked against the Taliban.Mr Davis told The Independent: “The reason I say 50,000 or more is that I want people to be braced for what could be necessary. And I mean right now, in the short-term. This will be resolved, one way or another, within the next few months.”The former cabinet minister added: “I want us to be able to take people who are at risk of their life. That could be next to none, if we can’t even get them out, or it could be a very large number. Most of the people coming here will have worked for the [UK] in some way. We will have documentation for them, and we should be able to make decisions quickly.”Influential Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, chair of the defence select committee, said the government should be aiming to accept “at least” tens of thousands of Afghan refugees in the short-term.Mr Ellwood told The Independent: “The commitment to resettle a mere 5,000 refugees, from a population of 38 million Afghans, falls hopelessly short – a drop in the ocean given the sheer scale of the humanitarian crisis.”Urging Mr Johnson to rethink the ambition of the current scheme, he added: “Over the coming days and weeks the government must revise this number, and use all of our diplomatic weight to urge allies to do the same.”Labour MP Chris Bryant criticised the difference between the short-term commitment and the pledge to accept 20,000 in the longer-term. “What are the 15,000 meant to do? Hang around and wait until they have been executed?” he asked the prime minister in the Commons.No 10 defended its scheme and insisted that only 5,000 fleeing Afghans will be offered sanctuary in the UK over the next year because it is “very rare” for people to abandon their country.The home secretary, Priti Patel, said it was important to have a scheme that could “delivered”, arguing that the government had to “think very carefully about the practicalities” of resettling Afghans across Britain.Meanwhile, charities urged the government to make sure people forced to flee Afghanistan are not criminalised for their method of travel – as set out in the Nationality and Borders Bill – if they cannot come to the UK via the resettlement scheme.Amid the crackdown on migrant boat crossings in the English Channel, the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants warned that for many refugees “regulated travel is not a viable option – many people need to flee urgently and by any means necessary”.A spokesperson for the United Nations Human Rights Council said: “We hope the UK’s resettlement scheme won’t happen at the expense of the right to make an asylum claim. We should not penalise or criminalise anyone fleeing the country who does not have their paperwork.”The Archbishop of Canterbury said Britain must be “generous” and ready to welcome all Afghans in need of safety – arguing that the government should not place a limit on the total number of refugees accepted from Afghanistan.Speaking in the Lords on Wednesday, Justin Welby said: “We owe an absolute, lavishly generous moral covenant to all those who are at risk because they served with us in Afghanistan … This is about morals, not numbers.” More

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has led tributes to the party’s former MP for Great Grimsby Austin Mitchell following his death at the age of 86.Mr Mitchell was a colourful figure who represented the North East Lincolnshire port for almost four decades, from 1977 to 2015, after a successful career as TV presenter during the 1970s.Following his death on Wednesday, Sir Keir said: “Austin served his constituency of Great Grimsby with remarkable commitment for 38 years.“There are few MPs whose dedication to their constituents would translate into changing their surname to Haddock to promote local industry. His big sense of humour was matched by his deep Labour values. My thoughts are with his wife Linda and his children.”Mr Mitchell was a well-known reporter and presenter with ITV’s Calendar regional news programme for many years before he won a by-election in Grimsby in 1977.Many of those remembering Mr Mitchell recalled his most famous moment as a TV presenter when, in 1974, he chaired a prickly encounter between the former Leeds United managers Don Revie and Brian Clough.Former Downing Street director of communications Alastair Campbell said on Twitter said Mr Mitchell had been “great company when I was with Labour, even when we disagreed”.He added: “Best known of course as an MP, but a place in history as TV interviewer who did the ‘real life’ Brian Clough-Don Revie interview immortalised in Damned United. RIP.”The Labour stalwart was born in Bradford in 1934 and studied history before moving to New Zealand, where he worked as a university lecturer in the subject in the 1960s.His brief change of name to Austin Haddock came in 2002 as part of a bid to boost Grimsby’s fishing industry. Mr Mitchell, who leaves four children, married his second wife, Linda McDougall, in 1976.Former Labour MP Melanie Onn, who succeeded Mr Mitchell in the Great Grimsby seat in 2015, said: “Austin will be greatly missed by many in Grimsby’s Labour family and across the town where he was taken from the TV screen into the hearts of local people, always ready with a camera and amusing anecdote.“He was a larger-than-life character, secured lost pensions compensation for the last generation of Grimsby’s fishermen and was a vociferous opponent of council housing stock transfers to arms-length management organisations.”She added: “On a personal level, Austin was unfailingly supportive to me as a new MP, still a bruising advocate of the Labour Party and gave his time, advice and expertise generously. It was a pleasure to get to know him and I send my heartfelt condolences to Linda, his family and close friends for their loss.”Great Grimsby MP Lia Nici, who won the seat for the Conservatives in 2019, said she was sad to hear about the loss of “my friend and predecessor,” adding: “I learnt an awful lot from him. He worked incredibly hard for Great Grimsby and will be sadly missed.” More

MPs of all parties raged at the UK’s “weakness” and “shame” after the sudden Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, leaving Boris Johnson isolated in an emergency Commons debate.The prime minister came under fire for an intelligence failure that led to the chaotic retreat from Kabul and for “hoping on a wing and prayer it would be all right”, as Theresa May put it.His predecessor in No 10 was among Tories who questioned the future of a Nato alliance “dependent” on an increasingly isolationist United States – after Joe Biden pulled the plug on the Afghan mission.There was also fierce criticism of the low number of Afghans to be offered sanctuary in the UK – just 5,000 in the next 12 months – and of Mr Johnson and Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, for heading off on holiday as the crisis loomed.Strikingly, Tory MPs failed to rally behind Mr Johnson with verbal support, in a Commons packed for the first time since the Covid pandemic broke out 17 months ago.Liam Fox, a former defence secretary, was among those who warned: “The strategic weakness of our alliance will have been noted not just in Kabul, but in Moscow, and in Beijing, and in Tehran and in Islamabad.”Tom Tugendhat – who served as an Army officer in Afghanistan – demanded a strategy “for reinvigorating our European Nato partners, to make sure that we are not dependent on a single ally”.“This doesn’t need to be defeat, but at the moment it damn well feels like it,” he said, drawing rare applause from some fellow MPs.Labour’s Chris Bryant said he felt “more ashamed than I can remember”, warning: “We have managed to humiliate ourselves.“We have shamed our politics and our way of doing business. We have trailed the British flag and our own honour in the dirt and in the mud.”And, in Mr Johnson’s most uncomfortable moment, Mrs May asked him: “What does it say about Nato if we are entirely dependent on a unilateral decision taken by the United States?”“I do find it incomprehensible and worrying that the United Kingdom was not able to bring together, not a military solution, but an alternative alliance with countries to continue to provide the support necessary to sustain a government in Afghanistan.”The former prime minister demanded to know: “Was our intelligence really so poor? Was our understanding of the Afghan Government so weak? Was our knowledge of the position on the ground so inadequate?“Did we just feel that we had to follow the United States and hope that, on a wing and a prayer, it would be all right on the night?”The government has insisted it tried, unsuccessfully, to put together an alliance to maintain some operations in Afghanistan, but declined to provide any details.Asked when he had spoken with Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary-general, Mr Johnson replied “the other day”.The prime minister again fought off calls for an independent inquiry into the Afghan war, claiming: “Most of the key questions have already been gone into.”And he urged MPs to recognise that deploying “tens of thousands” of British troops to Afghanistan to continue fighting the Taliban would not enjoy public support.“The West could not continue this US-led mission, a mission conceived and executed in support of America, without American logistics, without US air power and without American might,” Mr Johnson insisted.“I really think that it is an illusion to believe that there is appetite among any of our partners for a continued military presence or for a military solution imposed by Nato in Afghanistan. That idea ended with the combat mission in 2014.” More

Theresa May has criticised the government’s “incomprehensible” failure to bring together an alternative alliance to prevent the collapse of the Afghanistan administration after the US withdrawal.In scathing comments, Boris Johnson’s predecessor at No 10 said the events unfolding in the region had been a “major setback” for British foreign policy, adding: “We boast about Global Britain, but where is Global Britain on the streets of Kabul?”“What does it say about NATO if we are entirely dependent on a unilateral decision taken by the United States?” she asked MPs on Wednesday.“I do find it incomprehensible and worrying that the United Kingdom was not able to bring together not a military solution but an alternative alliance with countries to continue to provide the support necessary to sustain a government in Afghanistan.”Citing previous remarks from the prime minister and US president Joe Biden on the possibility of the Taliban seizing power, Ms May told the Commons: “Was our intelligence really so poor?“Was our understanding of the Afghan government so weak? Was our knowledge of the position on the ground so inadequate? Did we really believe this, or did we just feel we had to follow the United States and hope that on a wing and a prayer it would be alright on the night?”The former Conservative prime minister added: “The reality is that as long as this time limit was given and dates given for withdrawal, all the Taliban had to do was to ensure there were sufficient problems for the Afghan government not to be able to have full control of the country and then just sit and wait.”“All of our military personnel, all who served in Afghanistan should hold their heads high and be proud of what they achieved in that country over 20 years, of the change of lives they brought to the people of Afghanistan and the safety they brought here to the UK.“The politicians sent them there, the politicians decided to withdraw, the politicians must be responsible for the consequences.”During her speech, Ms May also criticised the former US president Donald Trump for opting to “do a deal” in Doha, Qatar, with the Taliban, telling MPs: “”What President Biden has done is upheld a decision that was made by President Trump.“It was a unilateral decision of president Trump to do a deal with the Taliban that has led to this withdrawal.“What we’ve seen from the scenes in Afghanistan is that it hasn’t been alright on the night, so I say that there are many in Afghanistan who fear not just that their lives will be irrevocably changed for the worse, but who fear for their lives.”In an emotional speech which drew rare applause from some MPs, the Conservative Tom Tugendhat – who served as an Army officer in Afghanistan and now chairs of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee – said the UK and its Western allies had received a “very harsh lesson”.“This doesn’t need to be defeat but at the moment it damn well feels like it,” he said. “Like many veterans, this last week which been one which has seen me struggle through anger and grief and rage”.Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith also criticised Mr Biden for blaming the collapse of Afghanistan on the army’s unwillingness to fight.The MP said: “I do say to the American president … you have no right to use excuses and base them on people who have lost their lives, and done so bravely.”Ex-foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt echoed his sentiments, telling MPs that president Biden said during a widely-criticised speech this week that his “only vital national interest in Afghanistan was to prevent a terrorist attack”.“Even if that is the case, both he and President Trump should be deeply ashamed, and I say this with great sadness, because their actions have returned Afghanistan to the very government that harboured the 9/11 bombers,” Mr Hunt added. More

Only 5,000 fleeing Afghans will be offered sanctuary in the UK over the next year because it is “very rare” for people to abandon their country, Downing Street says.Boris Johnson’s spokesman defended the low figure – when thousands of Afghans are trying to escape the Taliban every day – on the grounds that it is “based on our previous experience”.The number reflected “our expectations of how many people will be able to both be seeking to leave, and will be able to leave, over that time period”, The Independent was told.“I think it’s important to emphasise that it’s very rare that people want to leave where they live and start life in another country,” the spokesman said.The resettlement scheme has been widely criticised as inadequate – in the Commons, the prime minister was asked if other Afghans should “wait around and wait to be executed”.It is on top of the existing Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme, which helps “current or former locally employed staff assessed to be at serious risk of threat to life” reach the UK.And the government has set out an ambition to relocate up to 20,000 of the most vulnerable Afghans “in the long-term” – without saying how long that might take.Downing Street said Afghans could either be brought to the UK from within Afghanistan or “from a neighbouring country if people go across the border”.Some of the initial 5,000 could be flown directly from Kabul, the spokesman said, adding it was not “a hard requirement” for those people to be part of the ARAP programme.“It’s hard to be definitive at this point about what the situation might be within Afghanistan,” the spokesman admitted.Keir Starmer has attacked a lack of preparation, saying: “We have had 18 months to prepare and plan for the consequences of what followed, to plan and to prepare for the resettlement of refugees.”Earlier, the head of the armed forces, General Sir Nick Carter, said; “There are a lot of desperate people trying to get to the airport,” – with the UK set to evacuate 1,000 people on Wednesday.Mr Johnson’s spokesman said it was right to focus on “humanitarian support” on the ground, as a £143m aid increase was announced – reversing the cut made earlier this yearThe G7 group of leading nations and “international diplomacy” would “hold the Taliban to account for their actions”, he added.Downing Street also echoed Priti Patel in saying it would be unreasonable to expect local councils to resettle 20,000 people immediately.“This is a comprehensive resettlement scheme that could involve housing, welfare, and obviously we need to make sure that is done properly, as we achieved successfully in the Syrian scheme.”That programme saw just over 20,000 Syrians escape civil war to reach the UK, but took seven years to reach that total. More

Dominic Raab has been criticised for his “heartless” behaviour after he was spotted laughing and smiling as the government faced anger from MPs about the UK’s failure to prepare for the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.The foreign secretary was seated beside Boris Johnson during an emergency debate in the House of Commons on Wednesday, as the prime minister denied that the UK “did not foresee” the events that had unfolded in Afghanistan in recent days.Labour leader Keir Starmer said it had been a “disastrous week, an unfolding tragedy” and that the PM’s judgment had been “appalling” and “unforgivable”.Turning to Mr Raab, he continued: ”the foreign secretary shakes his head – I wouldn’t have stayed on holiday” as “the mission in Afghanistan was disintegrating”, adding: ”You cannot coordinate an international response from the beach.”Mr Raab had been spotted sunning himself at a five-star resort in Crete as the news emerged that Kabul had been taken over by the Taliban on Sunday, according to The Telegraph. Reports suggest he only left the Greek island that evening, despite Taliban forces storming the Afghan capital earlier the same day.The foreign secretary appeared to be laughing along with other Conservative MPs on a few occasions during the debate. Journalist Tim Walker shared a screengrab and video of the foreign secretary on Twitter, writing: “What the hell is this bloody man laughing about in the #Afghanistan debate?”Social media users described Mr Raab’s attitude as “shameful” and “heartless” while Scottish National Party Westminster leader Ian Blackford also criticised Mr Raab’s demeanour in the Commons.“When the rest of us were doing what we can over the last few days, the foreign secretary was lying on a sun bed. People are facing the worst situation imaginable and you have a foreign secretary that is sitting, laughing.”It comes as the Taliban senior leadership, including the group’s co-leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, have reportedly landed back in Afghanistan and are expected to arrive in the capital Kabul later on Wednesday or Thursday. More