David Lammy responds to whistleblower evidence suggesting Boris Johnson intervened over Nowzad evacuation

David Lammy MP, Labour's Shadow Foreign Secretary, responding to written evidence from a senior FCDO whistleblower that suggests Boris Johnson directly intervened over the Nowzad evacuation, said:

"This is further confirmation that the Prime Minister put the lives of animals ahead of humans on a personal whim and then lied about doing so."In every crisis he faces, Boris Johnson shows himself to be a serial liar with no respect for the office he holds or the public he leads.

"He is unfit to be Prime Minister."

Ends


Notes to editors:

• Last December, Boris Johnson said the idea that he had intervened in the Nowzad case was "complete nonsense".
  
  
• Last August, he said: "I've had absolutely no influence on any particular case, nor would that be right ... That's not, that's not how we do things in this country."
  
  
• In January, he described the claims as "total rhubarb".
  
  
• The Foreign Affairs Committee today published written evidence from a senior FCDO whistleblower, Josie Stewart, to their inquiry on Government policy towards Afghanistan. Stewart stated:
  
  
• "It was widespread ‘knowledge’ in the FCDO Crisis Centre that the decision on Nowzad’s Afghan staff came from the Prime Minister. I saw messages to this effect on Microsoft Teams, I heard it discussed in the Crisis Centre including by senior civil servants, and I was copied on numerous emails which clearly suggested this and which no one, including Nigel Casey acting as ‘Crisis Gold’, challenged."