Top Foreign Office civil servant Sir Philip Barton responds to whistleblower's accusation that he misled MPs over Afghanistan evacuation
Earlier this morning, a senior Foreign Office whistleblower accused the department's top civil servant of misleading MPs over the Afghanistan evacuation.
Monday 21 March 2022 19:19, UK
The Foreign Office's top civil servant has said a second whistleblower's claim that Boris Johnson was directly involved in the decision to evacuate Nowzad charity staff was based on an "assumption" by an official at the time.
Foreign Office permanent under-secretary, Sir Philip Barton, told MPs on the influential Commons Foreign Affairs Committee that one of the department's officials had mistakenly attributed the Nowzad decision to colleagues as being made by the prime minister, which may have caused others to remember events in such a way.
Earlier this morning, a senior Foreign Office whistleblower accused the department's top civil servant of misleading MPs over the Afghanistan evacuation.
Whistleblower accuses top civil servant of misleading MPs
Josie Stewart, head of illicit finance at the Foreign Office (FCDO), described as "inaccurate" claims made by Sir Philip that he did not know Mr Johnson called for staff at animal charity Nowzad to be evacuated despite others being more of a Taliban target.
Ms Stewart said it was "widespread knowledge" in the FCDO's crisis centre - and she saw "numerous emails" - that the decision to allow Nowzad's Afghan staff to be evacuated was taken after the PM said they should be - despite officials saying they were not eligible and others were more at risk from the Taliban.
Read more: Eight key accusations made by Afghanistan whistleblower in 2021
Ms Stewart, who has been with the FCDO since 2015, including at the embassy in Kabul, gave written evidence to the foreign affairs select committee ahead of their session with Sir Philip this afternoon.
She said she has come forward to corroborate junior FCDO official Raphael Marshall's account, which he gave last year, and although she said she does not agree with all of it, she agrees with "the majority of the substance and all of the essence".
Official 'mistakenly attributed Nowzad decision as being made by PM'
Addressing the accusations, the Foreign Office top civil servant told the committee that after the national security adviser confirmed to a senior FCDO official by telephone that the government could proceed to call forward Nowzad staff for evacuation, that senior official passed the message on by email to the head of the team dealing with LOTR (Leave Outside the Rules) cases.
Sir Philip added that this email "did not say who had made the decision, only that it was confirmed and we should implement it".
He then discussed FCDO officials referring to what they thought was a prime ministerial decision in emails, adding: "In particular the head of the team dealing with LOTR (Leave Outside the Rules) cases in turn communicated the decision to his team, we know that in doing so he presented that as a decision made by the prime minister.
"This was an assumption he made based on the fact it had come from the national security adviser which was understandable given the many voices in the media at the time claiming that the prime minister had made the decision."
PM's special representative denies whistleblower's allegation
Nigel Casey, the prime minister's special representative for Afghanistan, apologised to MPs but denied a whistleblower's allegation he lied to them over the evacuation of the animal charity staff.
He later told the committee he still does not know who authorised the evacuation.
"As it turns out there was a very good reason why none of us could remember that, and that's because we had not been told at the time and we haven't been since." he said.
Mr Casey added that he and Sir Philip answered the committee's questions "in good faith, to the best of our knowledge at the time".
'Possible' that key emails were deleted
He also conceded that he may have deleted crucial emails relating to the evacuation.
Discussing his apparent failure to find an email suggesting the PM authorised the decision, Mr Casey told the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee: "It's possible that I deleted the emails.
"My email box was exploding and as crisis gold I had to focus on the emails which were addressed directly to me for action by me and it's quite possible that I weeded out other emails which were copied to me not for action but for action by other people in an attempt to make sure that I could focus on those emails."
Read more: PM's assistant 'contacted charter firm to secure plane to evacuate animals from Kabul'
He said "some or most" of the emails have been recovered, adding: "I think we have enough to understand how this happened, how it is staff, in good faith - including (whistleblowers) Josie, including Raphael - believed at the time that the decision had been attributed to the prime minister."
Asked why he would delete items, he suggested colleagues assisting him may have done it.
"It's possible, I don't want to blame anyone else, but it's possible they might've done it on my behalf, I don't know," he said.
Labour MP Chris Bryant asked: "Your view is whilst the committee was misled it was inadvertent and you're sorry?"
Mr Casey replied: "That's right and I repeat that apology to you wholeheartedly right now."
MPs question top officials' accounts
But two MPs on the committee, including Mr Bryant, said they struggled to believe the accounts of Mr Casey and Sir Philip.
Conservative Alicia Kearns added: "I think you can see that we're finding it difficult to believe you."
Sir Philip told the committee in December last year he was "not aware of the decision-making" about the evacuation of Nowzad staff.
In January, he then said he had no reason to believe the decision was made because of the prime minister, and Mr Casey had not received emails about it.
But then an email, with Mr Casey copied in, revealed emails saying just that had been sent and Sir Philip apologised for "inadvertently inaccurate answers" and said Mr Casey had been busy and did not remember the email.
Officials' responses to questions 'in good faith'
The FCDO told Sky News: "At 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."
"The prime minister has made clear he had no role in authorising individual evacuations from Afghanistan during Operation Pitting, including Nowzad staff and animals.
"As is the case after all crises, the FCDO is committed to learning lessons and using its experience to improve the way the organisation responds to crisis overseas. We have incorporated many of the lessons into our response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine."