They had 18 months to plan for the end of a 20-year campaign in Afghanistan.
But as soldiers flew in to evacuate the Britons left stranded and our ambassador stayed behind to personally process visa applications at the airport - our Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary and three most senior civil servants were all on holiday.
Even as the Taliban advanced on Kabul and the Afghans who fought alongside our troops tried to flee, the Foreign Secretary refused to make a phone call to the Afghan Government. Who knows how many lives could have been saved if he had?
My inbox is flooded with pleas for help. The Afghan soldiers, interpreters, journalists and aid workers who helped us for 20 years are being hunted in door-to-door raids.
A British mum is hiding in a park with her young children, unable to get past Taliban checkpoints to the airport.
Even now, when MPs call the helpline, nobody in Government answers the call.
For 18 months it seems the Government has been asleep at the wheel. The scenes at Kabul Airport are an unparalleled moment of shame.
British and Afghan lives, and our country’s reputation are on the line.
We must set up safe corridors to get people to the airport. We must have a plan to get food, clean water and medicine to the Afghan people. We should give a home to Afghans fleeing the Taliban.
And we must work with other countries to gather intelligence across Afghanistan or we will face new terror attacks in the UK.
After two decades of sacrifice by British troops and the Afghan people, 457 British lives lost and billions of pounds spent, millions of Afghans had access to healthcare, education, and a decent future.
All of this is now unravelling in front of our eyes.
No wonder that when the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary stood up in the House of Commons this week not a single MP supported them. They should hang their heads in shame.
