Boris Johnson authorised the evacuation of animals from Afghanistan during the fall of Kabul, according to emails leaked by a whistleblower.
The PM has previously dismissed as “nonsense” claims he intervened in the evacuation of the Nowzad charity, run by former Royal Marine Pen Farthing.
But an email from an official in minister Zac Goldsmith’s office suggests he was personally involved.
It is one of a number of emails released by a select committee.
The August 2020 message to another official in the Foreign Office says: “Charity Nowzad, run by an ex-Royal Marine, has received a lot of publicity and the PM has just authorised their staff and animals to be evacuated.”
When asked in December if he had prioritised animals over the Afghan people in the evacuation of Kabul, Mr Johnson said: “That is complete nonsense.”
Pen Farthing’s Nowzad charity operated an animal clinic, dog and cat shelter and donkey sanctuary in Afghanistan, training and employing Afghans.
When the Taliban took control of Kabul, its supporters launched a campaign for evacuation, saying staff were in danger due to their work with foreign organisations and the animals were at risk.
About 15,000 people were airlifted out of the country in August, including Mr Farthing and 150 animals. His staff were left behind, but later made it safely to Pakistan.
The plane evacuating the animals was paid for by donations.
The UK government sponsored clearance for it, leading to allegations that animals had been prioritised over people in the rescue effort.
Raphael Marshall, who worked for the Foreign Office at the time, told the Foreign Affairs Committee that the animals were evacuated following a direct instruction from Mr Johnson.
An ally of Mr Farthing, animal rights activist Dominic Dyer, told the BBC he had contacted Mr Johnson’s wife Carrie to ask him to speak to Defence Secretary Ben Wallace about ensuring Mr Farthing and his animals were evacuated.
The evidence published by the committee on Wednesday shows Lord Goldsmith’s official in the Foreign Office emailed colleagues working on the “special cases team Bronze”, saying: "[animal charity - name redacted] are a [details redacted] animal charity operating in Kabul and seeking to evacuation their [details redacted] members of staff (no animals).
“Equivalent charity Nowzad, run by an ex-Royal Marine, has received a lot of publicity and the PM has just authorised their staff and animals to be evacuated, [animal charity - name redacted] are hoping to be treated in the same capacity.”
In a written statement to the committee, Mr Farthing denied any UK government involvement in the evacuation.
If if it not another BJ party, it’s another BJ lie … 
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