Boris Johnson accused of ordering help for animal charity to escape Kabul by new whistleblower
Boris Johnson accused of personally ordering help for Nowzad charity evacuation from Kabul by a SECOND Government whistleblower who accuses senior mandarins of having ‘intentionally lied’ to MPs probing assistance for group lobbied by PM’s wife
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Boris Johnson is facing fresh questions over help given an animal charity that lobbied his wife Carrie after a second whistleblower said he was behind efforts to get staff out of the fall of Kabul.
The Prime Minister has denied that he personally intervened to help Paul Farthing’s Nowzad organisation flee the advance of the Taliban last year.
But a senior Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office mandarin effectively ended her career this morning by publicly accusing Mr Johnson of involvement.
In evidence published by the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Josie Stewart – who has worked for the FCDO since 2015 including for the British Embassy in Kabul – said: ‘It was widespread ”knowledge” in the FCDO crisis centre that the decision on Nowzad’s Afghan staff came from the Prime Minister.’
Ms Stewart, who volunteered to work on the response to the fall on Kabul, said: ‘I saw messages to this effect on Microsoft Teams, I heard it discussed in the crisis centre including by senior civil servants, and I was copied on numerous emails which clearly suggested this and which no-one, including Nigel Casey acting as ‘Crisis Gold’, challenged.’
She said she agreed with ‘the majority of the substance and all of the essence’ of evidence given to MPs by whistleblower Raphael Marshall last year.
And she accused FCDO permanent secretary Sir Philip Barton and Nigel Casey, the Prime Minister’s special representative for Afghanistan, of having ‘intentionally lied’ to the Commons committee when they defended the PM.
Carrie was lobbied personally by members of Nowzad in order to get them and their animals out of Kabul in August
The Prime Minister has previously denied intervening to allow Paul ‘Pen’ Farthing and members of his Nawzad charity flee Kabul at the expense of locals as the extremists closed in last summer.
Ms Stewart said emails in her inbox referenced ‘the PM’s decision on Nowzad’.
Her revelations follow evidence given by Mr Marshall, who also worked for the FCDO.
The Prime Minister has denied direct involvement in the evacuation of animals from the charity.
Ms Stewart, who said she leaked information to a BBC journalist such was her concern about the handling of the Afghanistan crisis, said she accepted that speaking out would likely mean she lost her job.
She said: ‘I 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.’
Ms Stewart said statements provided to the committee by ministers and senior civil servants had been ‘misleading’.
She said she did not believe there was any deliberate decision ‘to prioritise animals over people’ but that ‘the decision to approve Nowzad’s Afghan staff under LOTR (leave outside the rules) was not in line with policy, as there was no reason to believe these people should be prioritised under the agreed criteria’.
She said although letters from Sir Philip Barton, the Foreign Office’s permanent under-secretary, and Foreign Office minister Lord Ahmad were ‘factually accurate’ when they said ‘Nowzad staff were included by officials in the potential cohorts to be considered for evacuation if space became available under LOTR’, she said this was ‘misleading’.
‘From what I heard and saw, Nowzad staff were included as a late addition only in response to this ‘PM decision’. This occurred against the previous judgment of officials,’ she said.
She added: ‘I 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.’
