Stay up to date with notifications from TheĀ Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Boris Johnson gave order to evacuate Pen Farthing animals from Afghanistan, says new whistleblower

Official also alleges top civil servants lied to MPs about decision

Adam Forrest
Monday 21 March 2022 10:56 GMT
Comments
December 2021: Boris denies intervening in evacuation of animals from Afghanistan

Boris Johnson directly approved the evacuation of cats and dogs with Pen Farthing’s animal charity from Afghanistan, according to a second government whistleblower.

Josie Stewart – a senior official at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) – said it was ā€œwidespread knowledgeā€ that the decision to help the Nowzad charity ā€œcame from the prime ministerā€.

Mr Johnson has denied direct involvement in the evacuation of animals. But Ms Stewart backed up claims made by whistleblower Raphael Marshall saying emails in her inbox referenced ā€œthe PM’s decision on Nowzadā€.

Ms Stewart also accused Sir Philip Barton, the Foreign Office’s permanent undersecretary, and Nigel Casey, the PM’s special representative forĀ Afghanistan, of having ā€œintentionally liedā€ to MPs on the foreign affairs select committee.

The whistleblower said she ā€œcannot fathomā€ why they would do so but that ā€œthey must have done soā€, adding: ā€œI have tried to imagine but cannot conceive of any way this could have been an honest mistake.ā€

The Foreign Office immediately rejected the whistleblower’s claims. ā€œAt all times officials have responded to the committee’s questions in good faith, on the basis of the evidence available to us at the time,ā€ said a FCDO spokesperson.

The spokesperson also said the prime minister ā€œhas made clear he had no role in authorising individual evacuations fromĀ AfghanistanĀ during Operation Pitting, including Nowzad staff and animalsā€.

But Labour’s shadow foreign secretary David Lammy said the revelations were ā€œfurther confirmation that the prime minister put the lives of animals ahead of humans on a personal whim and then lied about doing soā€.

The Labour frontbencher called the PM a ā€œserial liarā€ and added: ā€œHe is unfit to be prime minister.ā€

Ms Stewart, who said she previously leaked information such was her concern about the handling of the Afghan crisis, said she accepted that speaking out would likely mean losing her job.

She said: ā€œI feel a strong sense of moral injury for having been part of something so badly managed and so focused on managing reputational risk and political fallout rather than the actual crisis and associated human tragedy.ā€

Ms Stewart said the messages about the animal evacuation decision were coming from the PM on Microsoft Teams, and ā€œheard it discussed in the crisis centre including by senior civil servantsā€.

She also said she was copied on numerous emails ā€œwhich clearly suggested thisā€ which no-one, including Mr Casey, challenged.

In January MPs on the foreign affairs select committee published an email from a senior official referring to ā€œthe PM’s decisionā€ on Nowzad, copied to Mr Casey.

Sir Philip apologised for ā€œinadvertently inaccurate answersā€, stating that Mr Casey had been busy that day and did not remember the email.

The BBC later published further emails showing that Mr Casey wrote an email about asking ā€œNumber 10ā€ for input on the case.

Ms Stewart told MPs: ā€œNigel Casey explicitly testified that he had searched his emails and found nothing of relevance, yet when I searched my emailsĀ for ā€œPMā€Ā andĀ ā€œNowzadā€ IĀ found more than oneĀ email referencing ā€œthe PM’s decision on Nowzadā€ and with Nigel Casey in copy.ā€

The whistleblower added: ā€œI cannot fathom why either Philip Barton or Nigel Casey would have intentionally lied to the Committee, but I believe that they must have done so both in the letter dated 17 January and inĀ theĀ oral testimony given on 25 January.

Ms Stewart said she did not believe there was any deliberate decision ā€œto prioritise animals over peopleā€ but that ā€œthe decision to approve Nowzad’s Afghan staff under LOTR (leave outside the rules) was not in line with policyā€.

The whistleblower said ā€œthere was no reason to believe these people should be prioritised under the agreed criteriaā€.

She said although letters from Sir Philip and Foreign Office minister Lord Ahmad were ā€œfactually accurateā€ when they said ā€œNowzad staff were included by officials in the potential cohorts to be considered for evacuation if space became available under LOTRā€, she said this was ā€œmisleadingā€.

Afghan interpreter's family 'likely to be killed' as a result of Pen Farthing animal evacuation, Tory MP says

She told the committee: ā€œFrom what I heard and saw, Nowzad staff were included as a late addition only in response to this ā€˜PM decision’. This occurred against the previous judgment of officials.ā€

Ms Stewart added: ā€œI do not find it credible that Philip Barton, or those who drafted his letter dated January 17 2022, would not have been aware of this.ā€

In her written evidence, released on Monday, Ms Stewart also dismissed government claims that civil servants often portrayed decisions as coming from the PM if they did not.

Foreign Office minister Lord Goldsmith had claimed in the Lords that: ā€œIt’s not uncommon in Whitehall (...) for decisions to be interpreted or portrayed as coming directly from one department or another or even the prime minister, even when that isn’t the case.ā€

She said: ā€œI have never in my career seen any such thing. Governance would fall apart entirely if this were the case.ā€

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in