Boris Johnson denies authorising evacuation of Pen Farthing animals - despite email saying he did

Boris Johnson's spokeswoman has defended the Prime Minister, claiming he "had no role" in authorising evacuations of Nowzad staff and animals from Afghanistan despite foreign office emails.

A No10 spokesperson told GB News: “The Prime Minister had no role in authorising individual evacuations from Afghanistan during Op PITTING, including Nowzad staff and animals.

“At no point did the Prime Minister instruct staff to take any particular course of action on Nowzad.”

This comes after a whistleblower leaked email exchanges to the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. The internal government emails have suggested Boris Johnson personally authorised the evacuation of 173 dogs and cats from Afghanistan during an emergency airlift.

The evidence published on Wednesday shows an official in the private office of Lord Goldsmith – a joint Foreign Office and environment minister – told colleagues working on the evacuation on August 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”.

Paul “Pen” Farthing, who ran the Nowzad shelter, launched a high-profile campaign to get his staff and animals out of Afghanistan after the fall of Kabul, using a plane funded through donations.

The email, sent on 25th August 2021 by a foreign office official, could contradict the Prime Minister's prior defence that the claims were "complete nonsense".

On Tuesday, however, the Defence Secretary insisted the Prime Minister did not ask him to clear the way out of Afghanistan for Paul “Pen” Farthing’s animals “at any stage”.