I misled MPs over Afghan animals, says boss

THE FOREIGN Office’s top mandarin has apologised for misleading MPs in the row over the evacuation of animals from Afghanistan.

Sir Philip Barton, the Foreign Office’s permanent under-secretary, had told the Foreign Affairs Committee that Nigel Casey, the Prime Minister’s special representative for Afghanistan, had not received any correspondence referring to any intervention by Boris Johnson in the evacuation from the country of animals from the Nowzad charity.

But in emails revealed by Newsnight, Mr Casey was seen to have asked an official “to seek clear guidance for us from No 10 asap on what they would like us to do” in the case.

Sir Philip had written to the committee’s chairman, Tory MP Tom Tugendhat, to apologise after previously revealed emails showed Mr Casey had received correspondence.

He said he had given “inadvertently inaccurate answers”. But he said that “on the day the email was sent Nigel was almost entirely focused in his role as Gold in our crisis response, on the terrorist threat to the evacuation”.

Sir Philip came under fire for remaining on holiday after Kabul fell in August. The admission is the latest controversy in the saga over the evacuation of animals looked after by the Nowzad charity – set up by former marine Pen Farthing – from Kabul last year.

Mr Johnson has said any allegations he personally intervened to get the animals out of the country were “total rhubarb”. But the Prime Minister has been accused of lying after leaked correspondence suggested the involvement of No 10.

Downing Street has denied intervening in any individual cases in the final days of the mission. But an email shows a Foreign Office official saying the Prime Minister had just “authorised” the animals’ rescue.