Embattled Dominic Raab has clashed with MPs over his luxury holiday as the Taliban overran Afghanistan - and intelligence “failures” which failed to see it coming.
The Foreign Secretary claimed questions about his five-star Crete getaway were a "fishing expedition" as he was hauled before the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, days after British troops quit the war-ravaged nation.
MPs made bombshell claims that he was warned Afghanistan was on the brink of collapse and troops had leave cancelled on late July - three weeks before Kabul fell. But he went on holiday anyway.
In a fiery hearing, the Foreign Secretary also admitted he had no idea how many Brits or eligible Afghans are left behind - and claimed he and others only thought Kabul would fall next year.
Mr Raab, tipped for the sack in the next Cabinet reshuffle, revealed he had held discussions about ensuring the Taliban didn’t get hold of portraits of the Queen, while accepting Afghan staff details were wrongly left at the Embassy for fighters to find.
And perhaps most crucially, the Foreign Secretary revealed he would be flying out to the region - expected to include Qatar or Pakistan - later today for talks.
If you didn’t catch the two-hour hearing, here are the best moments so you don’t have to.
He ‘was warned of Afghan collapse in JULY - but went on holiday anyway’
Dominic Raab was warned in late July that Afghanistan was on the brink of collapse – but went on holiday anyway, it was claimed.
Senior Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, who chairs the committee, dropped the bombshell that a leaked Whitehall report dated July 22 highlighted “rapid advances” by the Taliban.
Mr Tugendhat read details from the Foreign Office’s “principal risk report” during a fiery 109-minute showdown with Mr Raab.
According to former Army colonel Mr Tugendhat, it stated: “On Afghanistan, peace talks are stalled and US/NATO withdrawal is resulting in rapid Taliban advances. This could lead to the fall of cities, collapse of security forces, Taliban returned to power, mass displacement and significant humanitarian need … The embassy may need to close.”
A Foreign Office spokesperson later said: “The Principal Risk Register is a standard monthly report for the management board which does not contain intelligence assessments.
“It is simply wrong and misleading to suggest this document is in any way at odds with our detailed assessments of the situation in Afghanistan or our public position throughout the crisis.
“The July document makes clear that our central planning assumption at the time was that the peace process in Afghanistan would run for up to a further six months.”
He went on holiday ‘despite Army cancelling leave’
SNP MP Stewart Malcolm McDonald claimed military leave was cancelled way back on July 23 - three weeks before the Taliban takeover.
Mr McDonald said: "I understand that the involved military leave was cancelled on 23 July. Did you initiate a similar process for the Foreign Office?"
Mr Raab replied: "No, what I did was make sure that we had cover, a decent rota, specifically because we didn't know for how long this would endure.
"Of course we were pressing for an extension of the window, in which case you need to make sure with emergency responses and indeed your team theatre that you are able to resource those properly but also make sure you can maintain it. Otherwise you have got a much greater risk of mistakes."
Mr McDonald said: "I think many would think that if all military leave was cancelled on 23 July it is a bad idea for yourself, the Prime Minister and several other officials in the FCDO, the Home Office and the MoD to take breaks at that time."
An MoD spokeswoman later said: “Leave for Armed Forces personnel involved in Operation Pitting was not cancelled.
“In July, some units in the Armed Forces were brought to readiness in line with operational requirements.”
It is understood troops from 16 Air Assault Brigade, including paratroopers, were moved to a higher level of readiness.
He is flying to the Afghanistan region tonight
Mr Raab revealed he was tonight flying to the region for talks on how hundreds of Britons still stuck in Afghanistan can flee.
After weeks when he was accused of not doing enough to talk to world leaders, Mr Raab is expected to fly to Doha, Qatar - where UK officials have been meeting "senior Taliban representatives" to plead safe passage for those fleeing Afghanistan.
However, he’s not expected to speak to the Taliban himself, given the implications that would have.
The Foreign Secretary also appeared to indicate he could visit Pakistan, a key “third country” co-ordinating efforts to get eligible refugees to the UK.
He said he will not recognise the Taliban
Dominic Raab pledged not to recognise the Taliban as the official government of Afghanistan.
He told the Foreign Affairs Committee: "We will not recognise the Taliban.
“I believe the US and most of the like-minded G7 countries have all said the same. What we will do is test them and judge them by how they respond.”
This appears to go much further than previous statements by the UK government, which said any decision on recognising the Taliban would only be carried out multilaterally (countries agreeing to do it together).
He thought Kabul wouldn’t fall this YEAR
Mr Raab claimed he and others in government had not thought Kabul would fall this year. Yet the Afghan capital was overrun by the Taliban within weeks.
He told MPs: "The central assessment that we were operating to… was that given the troop withdrawal by the end of August, you'd see a steady deterioration from that point and it was unlikely Kabul would fall this year."
Conservative MP Bob Seely asked if the Government was caught "slightly on the hop" due to an "intelligence failure".
One-time Tory leadership hopeful Mr Raab claimed: "We always try and... game out for these things.
“We've got a very professional way of approaching these things but when they're wrong... you need to look at how you correct that."
He refused 11 times to say when his holiday began
Dominic Raab refused 11 times to reveal when he started his five-star beach holiday as Kabul fell to the Taliban.
Mr Raab came under fire for staying in Crete until hours after Kabul fell on Sunday 15 August, only arriving back in London in the early hours of the Monday.
Questioned by Labour MP Chris Bryant - who asked if he left before or after a grim US assessment on August 11 -he refused three times to answer.
He then refused a further eight times when questioned by SNP MP Stewart Malcolm McDonald.
An exasperated Mr McDonald said: “Why can’t you just answer this question? This is absurd!”
But Mr Raab grumbled “to be honest with you I think it’s a pretty partisan, political…”, adding: “I am not going to start adding to, frankly, the fishing expedition beyond the facts that I have articulated and the fulsome statement and having answered questions on this continuously."
He ordered staff to destroy photos of the Queen - yet Afghans’ details were left lying around
Dominic Raab revealed he ordered diplomats to destroy pictures of the Queen to prevent a “propaganda” victory by the Taliban.
Yet he accepted the Times had visited the abandoned British Embassy, and found details of Afghans whose lives were at risk from the Taliban.
Mr Raab that incident it was "regrettable" and it reflected the "pressure on the ground".
He said: "We had a five-day schedule approach for closure of the embassy and it got brought forward because of the situation on the ground.
"I have nonetheless asked for a full review of what happened to make sure we can learn lessons."
Mr Raab said The Times shared the names of Afghans with the Government, adding: "All of those whose names The Times passed to us and who worked for us are now in the UK."
Yet challenged on photos of militants with pictures of the Queen, he had a firm response: “We had a very clear.. in fact I talked through with the team the policy for destroying not just documents but anything relating to HMQ.
“Clearly we were conscious of the attempted propaganda coup around Taliban taking over embassies and what have you.”
Afghan guards at UK Embassy are still stuck in Kabul
Afghan guards who protected the British embassy in Kabul were unable to reach evacuation flights, according to the Foreign Secretary.
Dominic Raab said buses were arranged to collect some of the guards but they were "not given permission to enter" the airport.
He did not offer further details on the difficulties they faced nor specify how many guards remain in Afghanistan when quizzed by MPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Mr Raab also confirmed he has ordered a "full review" of the closure of the UK's embassy in Kabul, amid concerns over the details of UK-linked Afghans falling into the hands of the Taliban.
Asked about the evacuation of the guards, Mr Raab told MPs: "We wanted to get some of those embassy guards through but the buses arranged to collect them, to take them to airport, were not given permission to enter."
He has no idea exactly how many are left behind
Mr Raab was unable to tell MPs how many UK nationals remained in Afghanistan, beyond saying the number was “in the low to mid hundreds”.
And pressed on whether “thousands” of eligible Afghans had been left behind, Mr Raab replied: "I’m not confident with precision to give you a set number, but I am confident the Prime Minister is right that we’ve got the overwhelming majority out."
He added: "Any number that we haven’t got out because of the evacuation, because of the situation, is too many."
… But he’s never considered resigning
Mr Raab said he never considered resigning during the crisis.
Asked if he had ever considered stepping down, he said: "No, I considered getting on with the job of what has been a Herculean task of getting 17,000 people out and now focusing on getting out the remaining people that we want to see out via third countries."
