The Tory Defence Secretary has been plunged into a furious row over an ex-Royal Marine’s bid to evacuate rescue animals from Afghanistan.
Ben Wallace accused Paul ‘Pen’ Farthing of trying to put “pets over people” after he raised more than £200,000 to get scores of staff out of Kabul on a charter flight - with more than 100 animals in the cargo hold.
Mr Farthing runs the Nowzad animal charity, which has shelters for more than 140 dogs and 40 cats as well as Afghanistan’s first donkey sanctuary.
On Monday morning he had claimed “Operation Ark is go” and Boris Johnson had agreed 68 of the charity’s staff could get UK visas.
But the ex-Marine then said last night he had been “cut off” by Mr Wallace’s advisor and “left to fend for myself in Kabul”.
He tweeted: “22 year Marine left behind lines.. neither my staff or animals will now get out - cheers.”
Mr Wallace said "that's b****cks" in an LBC interview and he could not put "pets before people".
But comedian and animal rights campaigner Ricky Gervais waded in, tweeting: "Dear stupid c***s saying we shouldn’t put animals before people.. 1. The animals go in the hold where people can’t go. 2. This is an extra, privately funded plane that will allow MORE people to be saved. #OperationArk"
Highlighting a Sky News report that appeared to show a car on a military evacuation plane, Gervais added: “And they rescued a f***ing car? Shame.”
Defence Secretary Mr Wallace hit back at Mr Farthing, saying he should leave Afghanistan on an RAF flight - and leave his staff and animals behind.
He said the charity’s Afghan workforce would be eligible to come to the UK, but also said he could not promise they would all be processed onto RAF planes by August 31 adding: “Not everyone will get through”.
Mr Farthing had said there would be dozens of spare seats on his chartered cargo plane, which could take other evacuees to help the UK forces remove people more quickly.
But Mr Wallace told Sky News: “Some of the campaigners have latched onto the fact they’ve chartered a plane as if this is somehow the magic wand.
“The magic wand is whether people can get through Kabul, through the Taliban checkpoint, and then through the 3,000-plus people waiting.”
The Defence Secretary added: “I am not prepared to prioritise for example pets over people. I want people to come through that flow.”
He went on: “As for the animals that he has rescued and saved, it is just not going to be the case that I will prioritise them over the men, women and children we see in desperate need at the gate.
“I regret that, but I don’t believe the Taliban’s main point of target will be his workforce and indeed the pets and the animals he’s looking after compared to some of those other people desperate in front of the queue.”
The Defence Secretary continued: “Once the evacuation is over I genuinely believe that for his workforce, and if he wants to repatriate the pets he looks after and the strays, I genuinely believe they’ll be allowed to move forward at a later date when that airport opens. But frankly I have to prioritise people at the moment over pets.”
Last night Mr Farthing tweeted: “I am staying with my staff and animals. I’ll get them in that airport and I will get my flight in.
“You picked on the wrong person to back down @BWallaceMP - I served 22 years as a @RoyalMarines We don’t quit.”
But Mr Wallace said the ex-Marine should leave as soon as possible.
He told Sky: “He was offered a flight last Friday, he was called forward to the airport for processing, his own wife I think left about the same time and exited the country and that is our strong advice to him, to leave the country.
“No one is blocking the charter flight that people have raised money… other than the fact that this is not about flights on the ground and whether or not Pen can get on the flight.
“[The charter plane] would probably sit there, it would block the airfield, it would sit there empty, because it’s about getting the flow through the gate, through the barriers and into the airport and onto the aircraft.”
