Boris Johnson urged to sack foreign secretary Dominic Raab

UK prime minister Boris Johnson was urged on Thursday to sack foreign secretary Dominic Raab, after it was claimed he delegated urgent calls on the unfolding Afghanistan crisis while on holiday.

The Daily Mail reported that with the Taliban making rapid advances across Afghanistan last Friday, Mr Raab delegated a call with his Afghan counterpart Hanif Atmar on the issue of Afghan interpreters who had assisted the UK army to junior foreign office minister Lord Zac Goldsmith.

Although the foreign, commonwealth and development office declined to comment on the claims, officials at the department confirmed that the foreign secretary was engaged on other calls at the time and that this specific call was delegated to another minister.

The claims triggered calls from opposition politicians for Mr Raab – who was already coming under pressure for remaining on holiday in Crete while the crisis in Afghanistan unfolded – to resign or be sacked.

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"How can Boris Johnson allow the foreign secretary to continue in his role after yet another catastrophic failure of judgment?" said Lisa Nandy, Labour's shadow foreign secretary. "If Dominic Raab doesn't have the decency to resign, the prime minister must show a shred of leadership and sack him."

Sir Keir Starmer, Labour's leader, added on Twitter: "Who wouldn't make a phone call if they were told it could save somebody's life?"

Layla Moran, the Liberal Democrats foreign affairs spokeswoman, said of Raab: "He wasn't just asleep at the wheel – he was wilfully complacent. He must resign."

"Tory ministers cannot wash their hands of responsibility for this foreign policy disaster," added Ian Blackford, Westminster leader of the Scottish National party. "Dominic Raab has failed to perform his basic duties as foreign secretary and he has put people's lives at risk. His position is completely untenable and he must resign, or be sacked."

When asked whether he would resign by journalists on Thursday morning as he walked into Downing Street, Mr Raab simply replied: “No.”

Ben Wallace, defence secretary, said a single phone call would not have "made a blind bit of difference" or ultimately changed the outcome of events in Afghanistan, which came under Taliban control over the weekend.

“Last Friday, the Afghan government was melting away quicker than ice and a phone call to an Afghan minister at that moment in time would have not made a difference,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme.

In his first public appearance following the collapse of the Afghanistan government on Monday, the foreign secretary argued that the “pace and scale” of the Taliban takeover caught everyone by surprise, adding that he flew back to the UK on Sunday evening and remained in contact with government officials throughout his holiday.

“The reality is as a foreign secretary whether we’re abroad travelling for work or a holiday we are there, able to respond to events,” he said. “So I was engaged in Cobra [the UK government’s emergency committee], talking to foreign counterparts, directly speaking to the head of our team here in London, I was doing that on an hour-by-hour basis and of course I left as soon as the situation deteriorated and demanded it.” – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2021