John Healey comments on emails showing Boris Johnson authorised airlift of animals from Kabul

John Healey MP, Labour's Shadow Defence Secretary, commenting on the publication of emails which show that the Prime Minister gave personal authorisation for animals to be evacuated from Kabul, said:

“Once again, the Prime Minister has been caught out lying about what he has been doing and deciding. He should never have given priority to flying animals out of Afghanistan while Afghans who worked for our armed forces were left behind.

"Boris Johnson is unable to make the serious decisions that are needed, at home and for our allies abroad.

"In this case people were fleeing in terror as the Taliban took over Kabul and British Forces were putting their lives at risk, the Prime Minister was once again prioritising the wrong things and making the wrong calls. We need to know why the PM overruled the Defence Secretary with this decision.“

Ends

Notes to editors:

• The Foreign Affairs Committee has today published emails from government officials which say the Prime Minister authorised the evacuation of Nowzad animals 
  
  https://twitter.com/tamcohen/status/1486313695210872832

• Last month, the Prime Minster said he had not intervened in the matter:
  
  Q. "The Foreign Affairs Select Committee has been hearing from an official who says the response to the situation in Kabul was chaotic and has suggested that you yourself intervened to try and get the Nowzad animals out and they got priority over some Afghan people. Did you intervene in that way?"A. "No, that's complete nonsense..."