Boris Johnson personally authorised the evacuation of almost 200 cats and dogs from Afghanistan when thousands of people were struggling to escape the country before it fell to the Taliban, newly-released Government emails suggest.
The prime minister has previously said he had no role in the evacuation of animals from the Nowzad charity, which was run by former Royal Marine Pen Farthing in Kabul.
He branded the claims that pets got priority over people “complete nonsense”.
But written evidence published by the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee suggests Mr Johnson did authorise for staff and animals to board flights out of Afghanistan.
An aide in the private office of Lord Zac Goldsmith, a minister in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, said in one email that another charity operating in Kabul were seeking the evacuation of their staff.
“Equivalent charity Nowzad, run by an ex-Royal Marine, has received a lot of publicity and the PM has just authorised their staff and animals to be evacuated, [animal charity - name redacted] are hoping to be treated in the same capacity (granted LOTR),” Lord Goldsmith said.
The government was criticised by whistleblowers and MPs for prioritising “pets over people” amid claims that they diverted limited resources on the ground to rescue the cats and dogs.
The Prime Minister has previously denied that he intervened to help Nowzad during the evacuation in summer 2021 after US and UK left the country. He told reporters in December: “That’s complete nonsense.”
Downing Street attempted to distance Mr Johnson from involvement in the decision on evacuating the Nowzad animals.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said on Wednesday: “It remains the case that the PM didn't instruct officials to take any particular course of action.”
The Defence Secretary has said “at no point” was he directed by Boris Johnson to “evacuate Pen Farthing, his workforce or his pets” from Afghanistan.
In a statement, Ben Wallace said: “I have seen the reports of emails concerning Pen Farthing and the pet evacuation.
“The evacuation of Kabul under Operation Pitting was run under my authority and delivered by the UK military through the Chief of Joint Operations.
“At no point were he or I directed by the Prime Minister to evacuate Pen Farthing, his workforce or his pets.
“As I made clear at the time, we were not going to put pets before people and as the actions showed, Pen Farthing left last and his workforce had to leave after the evacuation was concluded via other means.
“The evacuation was a Ministry of Defence led operation, supported by application processing by the Home Office and FCDO. The idea that an environment minister and his officials had any authority or responsibility in the running of the evacuation is ludicrous.
“I am however aware of false claims made throughout by Nowzad that led to considerable distress and distraction to those trying to save lives in very difficult circumstances.”
