Thursday, January 27, 2022
Another day, another lie ?
The Mirror reports that Boris Johnson has once more been accused of lying after bombshell emails revealed he did personally intervene to get animals and staff from a charity airlifted out of Afghanistan after the Taliban took Kabul. The Prime Minister said at the time it was "complete nonsense" the Government stepped in to help Paul 'Pen' Farthing and members of his Nowzad charity flee Afghanistan:
The Government was accused of putting animals before people after Mr Farthing was able to evacuate 173 cats and dogs from the country in August using a plane funded by donations from a high profile campaign.
The PM rejected claims he had intervened and Downing Street said it was "entirely untrue".
But new evidence from a whistleblower, published by the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, contradicts the PM's repeated denials about the ex-marine's charity.
An email from an official in Lord Goldsmith's office to the special cases team on August 25 2021 said another charity was seeking help to get their staff out.
It stated: "Equivalent charity Nowzad, run by an ex-Royal Marine, has received a lot of publicity and the PM has just authorised their staff and animals to be evacuated, [animal charity – name redacted] are hoping to be treated in the same capacity."
Another email sent between Foreign Office officials that day, said: “In light of the PM’s decision earlier today to evacuate the staff of the Nowzad animal charity, the [animal charity – name redacted] is asking for agreement to the entry of [details redacted] staff, all Afghan nationals."
The paper says that these emails cast fresh doubt on Johnson's integrity. No comment.
The Government was accused of putting animals before people after Mr Farthing was able to evacuate 173 cats and dogs from the country in August using a plane funded by donations from a high profile campaign.
The PM rejected claims he had intervened and Downing Street said it was "entirely untrue".
But new evidence from a whistleblower, published by the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, contradicts the PM's repeated denials about the ex-marine's charity.
An email from an official in Lord Goldsmith's office to the special cases team on August 25 2021 said another charity was seeking help to get their staff out.
It stated: "Equivalent charity Nowzad, run by an ex-Royal Marine, has received a lot of publicity and the PM has just authorised their staff and animals to be evacuated, [animal charity – name redacted] are hoping to be treated in the same capacity."
Another email sent between Foreign Office officials that day, said: “In light of the PM’s decision earlier today to evacuate the staff of the Nowzad animal charity, the [animal charity – name redacted] is asking for agreement to the entry of [details redacted] staff, all Afghan nationals."
The paper says that these emails cast fresh doubt on Johnson's integrity. No comment.
