The extent of this fixation can be revealed for the first time after hundreds of emails were released as part of an employment tribunal case brought by Josie Stewart, following her dismissal from the Foreign Office (FCDO) after she blew the whistle on a catalogue of failures about the Kabul withdrawal.
Under the subject line “URGENT – Pen Farthing & dogs” she wrote: “Major No 10 comms concerns about Def Sec commitment overnight that we will get the Nowzad dogs out – don’t want to look like we are prioritising animals over people.”.
She said she leaked emails, which suggested Boris Johnson was involved in fast-tracking Nowzad for evacuation, to show the government’s priorities were warped after the then prime minister dismissed the claim as “total nonsense”.
At 1.33am on 25 August the then defence secretary, Ben Wallace, tweeted that Farthing’s staff had been cleared for evacuation, and that “if he arrives with his animals we will seek a slot for his plane”, but that “no one has the right in this humanitarian crisis to jump the queue”.
An email from a senior environment official on 23 August 2021 referenced press reporting of “the prime minister’s decision to grant visas to Nowzad staff”, without correction.
