No. 10 says Foreign Office official’s claim that PM ordered dogs rescued from Kabul ‘completely untrue’ – UK Politics LIVE | Policy

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good morning. It is a difficult day for Dominic Raab, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice, because a former official gave the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee a shocking description of how the Foreign Office dealt with the evacuation of Afghanistan when Raab was foreign secretary. My colleague Patrick Wintour tells the story here.

My colleague Aubrey Allegretti has summarized the main allegations of the whistleblower here.

Commenting on the evidence contained in this 40-page note (pdf), Tom Tugendhat, Conservative chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said:

These allegations are serious and go to the heart of the leadership’s failures about the Afghan disaster, which we saw during this investigation. These failures betrayed our friends and allies and squandered decades of British and NATO efforts. The evidence we’ve heard points to dysfunction within the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Department and fundamental failures throughout the Afghanistan evacuation effort.

Rapp gave interviews this morning, and he dismissed some of the allegations in the memo – but not all. Asked on the Today program whether describing the State Department under his leadership as dysfunctional and chaotic is unfair and unfair, Raab replied, “What I would say is that it is inaccurate in some ways.”

He also told Sky News that he did not believe the problems in dealing with the evacuation from Afghanistan led to his demotion in a subsequent cabinet reshuffle.

KayBurley

KB: You lost your job because of this… @DominicRaab: I don’t think it’s true

KB: Why did you lose your job then? 🤔 #KayBurley #Afghanistan UF pic.twitter.com/1axDrC5nw8

December 7, 2021

I will be posting more of his interviews soon.

Here is today’s agenda

9:30 a.m.: Boris Johnson’s chair.

10 a.m.: Tracey Crouch, the former Sports Minister, has given evidence to the House of Commons Culture Committee about its fan-led review of football governance.

11.30 am: Rishi Sunak, chancellor, asks questions in the House of Commons.

11:30 a.m.: Downing Street holds a briefing in the lobby.

After 12:45 pm: Deputies will resume debate on the draft citizenship and borders bill.

2.20pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, delivers a statement to MSPs about Covid.

3 pm: Sir Philip Barton, Head of the Foreign Office, and other senior diplomats give evidence before the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee on Afghanistan.

3.30 pm: Alok Sharma, President of Cop26, presents evidence to the Environmental Audit Committee.

I’m trying to monitor the BTL comments but it’s impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, include “Andrew” somewhere and I’ll likely find it. I try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I’ll post the question above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise that for everyone.

If you want to get my attention quickly, it is better to use Twitter. I’m on AndrewSparrow.

Alternatively, you can email me at [email protected]

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