Raab under fire for posh Crete break
DomINIC raab has been accused of going “missing in action” for taking a foreign holiday while the situation in Afghanistan spiralled out of control.
the Foreign secretary was spotted on the beach of a five-star resort on Crete as taliban forces stormed into Kabul on sunday.
raab has admitted some regrets over his decision to be on his summer break as the Afghan capital fell – but claimed he deserved a break.
boris Johnson travelled to the west Country on either Friday night or saturday morning, at least 24 hours after the Government announced it was deploying 600 troops to Kabul.
they were tasked with saving more than 2000 embassy staff and Afghan locals from the clutches of the taliban, who had advanced to within 95 miles of the capital.
Former head of the Army lord Dannatt said the tories should have realised they needed to “get back and show some leadership”.
Keir starmer piled further pressure on the tory pair, saying they were “completely wrong” to have been away.
He added: “For the Prime minister and the Foreign secretary to be missing in action at this vital time is something everybody thinks is wrong.”
raab admitted that the uK had not seen the taliban takeover of Afghanistan coming.
He said that several nations were “caught off-guard”.
raab admitted that he would have travelled home from his break sooner if he had known that thousands of brits would have to be evacuated from Afghanistan.
“look, in retrospect, of course I wouldn’t have gone on holiday if I had known that would be the case,” he said.
but he added: “equally, after 18 months and two years of a very gruelling, demanding schedule, I think it is right that people in those positions try and take some leave.”
An eyewitness said that they spotted the Foreign secretary on the beach at the five-star Amirandes resort in Crete on sunday.
the source said: “He certainly wasn’t roughing it.”
reports claim raab only left Greece on sunday evening – arriving back in london after 1am on monday before showing up at the Foreign office hours later.