The Guardian

'Inaccurate in certain respects': Raab defends record after damning account of handling of fall of Kabul - live

The Guardian logo The Guardian 07.12.2021 11:52:29 Andrew Sparrow
Dominic Raab says he does not think the the problems with the evacuation of Kabul led to his demotion.

LIVE - Updated at 09:36

Latest updates: Dominic Raab rejects description of the Foreign Office as dysfunctional and chaotic under his leadership.

Good morning. It is a difficult day for Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister and justice secretary, because a former official has given the Commons foreign affairs committee a shocking account of how the Foreign Office handled the evacuation of Afghanistan when Raab was foreign secretary. My colleague Patrick Wintour has the story here.

Related: Whistleblower condemns Foreign Office over Kabul evacuation

And my colleague Aubrey Allegretti has summarises the whistleblower's main accusations here.

Related: Whistleblower on UK's Afghan evacuation: main accusations

Commenting on the evidence, set out in this 40-page memo (pdf), Tom Tugendhat, the Conservative chair of the foreign affairs committee, said:

These allegations are serious and go to the heart of the failures of leadership around the Afghan disaster, which we have seen throughout this inquiry. These failures betrayed our friends and allies and squandered decades of British and NATO effort. The evidence we've heard alleges dysfunction within the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and substantial failings throughout the Afghanistan evacuation effort.

Raab has been giving interviews this morning, and he has rejected some - but by no means all - of the claims made in the memo. Asked on the Today programme if the description of the Foreign Office as dysfunctional and chaotic under his leadrship was unfair and untrue, Raab replied: "What I would say is it's inaccurate in certain respects."

He also told Sky News that he did not think the problems with the handling of the evactuation from Afghanistan led to his being demoted in the subsequent reshuffle.

Kay B: You lost your job because of this...@DominicRaab: I don't think that's true

Kay B: Why did you lose your job then? ??#KayBurley #Afghanistan UF pic.twitter.com/1axDrC5nw8

I will post more from his interviews shortly.

Here is the agenda for the day

9.30am: Boris Johnson chairs cabinet.

10am: Tracey Crouch, the former sports minister, gives evidence to the Commons culture committee about her fan-led review of football governance.

11.30am: Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, takes questions in the Commons.

11.30am: Downing Street holds its lobby briefing.

After 12.45pm: MPs resume their debate on the nationality and borders bill.

2.20pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's first minister, gives a statement to MSPs about Covid.

3pm: Sir Philip Barton, head of the Foreign Office, and other senior diplomats give evidence to the Commons foreign affairs committee about Afghanistan.

3.30pm: Alok Sharma, president of Cop26, gives evidence to the environmental audit committee.

I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include "Andrew" in it somewhere and I'm more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can't promise to do this for everyone.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I'm on @AndrewSparrow.

Alternatively, you can email me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com

Harriet Harman, who was Labour's deputy leader from 2007 and 2015 and who served as interim party leader after Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband both resigned, has announced that she is standing down from parliament.

After nearly 40 years in Parliament I won't be standing again at the next election. It's been a great honour to be an MP and to represent Camberwell & Peckham since 1982. I will do that with complete commitment and enthusiasm up until the last day! My email to C & P Lab members?? pic.twitter.com/CFv1pZcX9a

She has also posted a nice Twitter thread on what has changed during her time in parliament here.

It's been a long time... pic.twitter.com/BQJiGa2vj4

Although Harman never held particularly high office in government, her record as a campaigner is remarkable and it is hard to think of any MP in parliament now who has been linked with pushing through so much transformative, progressive change.

I'll post more on her departure later.

mardi 7 décembre 2021 13:52:29 Categories: The Guardian

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