'Total rhubarb': Boris Johnson dismisses claims he approved evacuation of Pen Farthing's animals

Boris Johnson has dismissed accusations he authorised the controversial evacuation of animals from Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover of Kabul as "total rhubarb".

The Prime Minister sought to distance himself on Thursday from the claims, which appear to contradict his previous denials that he instructed staff and animals at Pen Farthing's Nowzad charity to be brought back to Britain during last year's Operation Pitting evacuation.

"This whole thing is total rhubarb," Mr Johnson said during a visit to North Wales, adding that he was "proud" of the military airlifts.

"I was very proud of what our armed services did with Operation Pitting and it was an amazing thing to to move 15,000 people out of Kabul in the way that we did," he said. "I thought it was also additionally very good that we were able to help those vets who came out as well.

"But I can tell you that the military always prioritised human beings and that was quite right. I think we should be incredibly proud of Operation Pitting and what it achieved."

Mr Johnson's defence comes a day after newly-surfaced emails shared with the foreign affairs committee appeared to show that a Foreign Office official said that the Prime Minister had just "authorised" the animals' rescue.

An official in the private office of Lord Goldsmith, an environment minister at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), told colleagues on Aug 25 that “the PM has just authorised their staff and animals to be evacuated”, in reference to “charity Nowzad, run by an ex-Royal Marine”.

The email evidence was submitted to the committee by Raphael Marshall, who worked for the FCDO at the time.

Mr Marshall, offering his own evidence in writing to MPs, said multiple colleagues wrote on the Teams message system that the Prime Minister had given an instruction to “call-forward Nowzad’s staff for evacuation”.

Responding to the leaked emails, Lord Goldsmith tweeted: “I did not authorise & do not support anything that would have put animals’ lives ahead of peoples’. My position, which I made clear publicly, was that the UK should prioritise evacuating people. I never discussed the Nowzad charity or their efforts to evacuate animals with the PM.”

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said earlier on Thursday that it is "not uncommon in Whitehall for a decision to be interpreted or portrayed as coming directly from the Prime Minister, even when that's not the case and it's our understanding that's what happened in this instance".

He added: "We appreciate it was a frenetic time for those officials dealing with this situation."

Asked if he was suggesting the Foreign Office official was mistaken, he replied: "I can't say individually which official but that's our understanding of what happened."

Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, also came to the Prime Minister's defence, insisting that he was "in charge" of the operation.

"The claims that have been made and emails from the Foreign Office, who were not responsible for the actual evacuation operation, I don't know where they come from but they certainly don't show the reality, which was: I was in charge, the Prime Minister never asked me, it was nonsense," he said.

Therese Coffey, the Work and Pensions Secretary, also suggested the official had been acting in an unauthorised capacity.

"I've seen a screenshot of an email. Quite often it's not unusual in Parliament and in Government for people to say... for their pet projects the Prime Minister has said it's a priority," she told LBC.

"There are a lot of things we deliver as the Government, but the Prime Minister had no role in individual evacuations and the Defence Secretary said he was in charge of (the overall rescue operation) in that regard."

During the height of the evacuation mission, Paul “Pen” Farthing, who ran the Nowzad shelter, launched a campaign to get his staff and animals out of Afghanistan using a plane funded through donations.

The UK Government sponsored clearance for the charter flight, leading to allegations that animals had been prioritised over people in the rescue effort, with around 150 animals from Mr Farthing’s animal shelter evacuated from Kabul.

Dominic Dyer, an ally of Mr Farthing, previously said he spoke with ministers and Mr Johnson's wife Carrie to "put pressure on him" over the evacuation.

On Thursday, he said he felt "vindicated" by the newly-released emails, adding: "I'm not certain why he didn't feel he could explain his involvement in August at the end of this operation."