Boris Johnson has failed to explain how many people Britain might have left behind in Kabul in a rambling 251-word answer to journalists.
The Prime Minister was quizzed today after his Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, admitted he did not know how many Brits or Afghans potentially eligible to be airlifted out were still in Afghanistan.
Mr Raab yesterday said the number of UK nationals 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."
Mr Johnson was asked today why he did not have a clearer idea of the number of people yet to be evacuated to the UK from Afghanistan, British nationals or other eligible people, and any advice to those people.
He replied that the UK did not know because it had already evacuated more people than it thought were eligible.
However, his answer failed to give any hint of how many people might be left behind, almost a week after the last UK evacuation flight left Kabul on Saturday.
The Prime Minister told reporters: “I think Carl there’s a very simple reason for that, and that is when you look at the numbers that we've helped to come out - both in terms of the eligible persons, the EP group, and the Afghan repatriation and assistance programme - the ARAP programme - we've way exceeded the numbers we thought were eligible.
"So, your question is a really good one but the answer is that obviously there are some - and, er, and, er, we care for them very much, we're thinking about them, we're doing everything we can to help - but the extent of the evacuation, the extraction that has already happened, has I think really amazed people.
“And I think the real job now, two things we’ve got to do, we’ve got to make sure we continue the work with local councils coming forward to help people find places to live, make sure their kids can go to school, make sure they can be properly integrated into the UK economy and society.
"And secondly we’ve got to make sure that we level with the Taliban, or the new authorities in Kabul, and they’ve got to understand that if they want engagement with the West, with us and our friends, and I know that they do, then the first priority for them - for us is safe passage for those who want to leave, and we, you know, we set various other conditions for making sure those funds are unfrozen which you know about."
It came after a senior Tory MP ambushed Mr Raab yesterday with the Foreign Office's own "risk report" from July 22, which warned Afghanistan could face collapse.
According to former Army colonel Tom 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."
Mr Raab's holiday began more than a week after the report. The Foreign Office has claimed it did not contradict other intelligence and was one part of a broader picture.
Today Mr Johnson claimed the UK had simultaneously known Kabul might fall quickly, but also not known for sure that it would.
“I think it’s been clear for many months the situation could go very fast, and that’s been in part of the intelligence briefing," he said.
"There have also been suggestions that the Afghan national defence force might hold on for longer."
