Dominic Raab has been slammed after it was reported help for Afghan interpreters who had supported British troops was delayed because he was on holiday in Crete and unable to make a phone call.
Labour MPs have hit out at the Foreign Secretary over the government's response to the crisis in Afghanistan.
The Daily Mail reported that the said Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office officials suggested Raab call Afghan foreign minister Hanif Atmar on Friday - two days before the Taliban marched on Kabul - only for him to be "unavailable" while on holiday.
The paper claimed the Afghan foreign ministry then refused to arrange a call with a junior minister, pushing it back to the next day.
The Foreign Office said: "The Foreign Secretary was engaged on a range of other calls and this one was delegated to another minister."
Now, opposition MPs have slammed the Tory MP.
The Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy said: "What could possibly have been more important than safeguarding the legacy of two decades of sacrifice and hard-won victories in Afghanistan? While the Foreign Secretary lay on a sun lounger, the Taliban advanced on Kabul and 20 years of progress was allowed to unravel in a matter of hours.
"The Foreign Secretary should be ashamed and the Prime Minister has serious questions to answer over why he remains in the job."
Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds tweeted: "This is a dereliction of duty.
"Failing to make a call has put the lives of brave interpreters at risk, after they served so bravely with our military. Utterly shameful."
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace was asked whether Raab had failed to make a key call to evacuate Afghan interpreters while he was on holiday.
Wallace told Sky News: "I have absolutely no idea about what my Foreign Secretary or any else's secretary call sheet is like, what I do know is that at no stage in the last few weeks I have (had) a problem with the Foreign Secretary or anyone else in that department, and in making sure we can process, get people through it.
"The facts are changing rapidly on the ground. And as he said yesterday, in Parliament, he's managed to do all his calls when he needed to, his Cobra calls etcetera."
He added: "One phone call is not the reason we are where we are at the moment."
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