Documents imply that Boris Johnson helped Nowzad cats and dogs to get out of Kabul when he said he didn't help

NEWS AND COMMENT: This is a story that has been rumbling along for a while. If you are up-to-date with the Boris Johnson news you will know that he is under a lot of pressure at the moment for allegedly breaking Covid social distancing rules and allegedly lying about it. It is the latter which is probably more important than the former. The knives are out for him. He may not remain as the Prime Minister of the UK as a consequence.

Letter from Ms Harrison MP to Paul Farthing of Nowzad showing the alleged involvement of Boris Johnson in the evacuation of animals from Kabul. Source: MSN News.

Thrown into the mix is the story of Mr Pen Farthing and the animals from his Nowzad operation in Kabul. This was and probably still is an animal rescue organisation based in Kabul. There was a big story about how he would get his animals out during the mass evacuation when thousands of people were flown out of Kabul after the Taliban took over.

RELATED: Breaking news: Nowzad animals and staff cleared to evacuate to the UK. - this was breaking news last summer.

Mr Farthing did get out using a chartered aircraft flown from Pakistan to Kabul paid for by a sponsor or sponsors. But at the time there were discussions about animals being prioritised over people. And the question was whether Boris Johnson, on the encouragement of his wife Carrie Johnson, had intervened to ensure that the animals got out of Kabul. He denied that he had been involved.

Nowzad staff getting out of Kabul to safety. Photo in public domain.

And now, documents have emerged in the news media which indicate that he did get involved. And if he did it would have been with the encouragement of his wife who is a known animal advocate.

Email implicating Boris Johnson in lying about his non-involvement. Image: The Sun.

It appears that an email trail leaked from the Foreign Office and which started or were initially sent on August 25, pins the order for the animal airlift on Boris Johnson. As mentioned, he claimed that he did not authorise the evacuation of more than 160 stray cats and dogs from Afghanistan. In fact, he boldly stated that it was "complete nonsense" to suggest that he had been involved. The Times newspaper states that a Foreign Office whistleblower released the emails yesterday suggesting that he approved the rescue mission.

The ironic point about the story is that it's a good thing that he was involved. I can't see the issue with that. It should be something which he could and should be praised for. However, in the higher echelons of the UK government the silver-haired white male is typically not a great animal lover. They wanted to exclusively prioritise people over any animals. That is my interpretation of the back story.

THE PRIME MINISTER ABSOLUTELY DENIES THIS ALLEGATION. MR FARTHING BELIEVES THAT THE PRIME MINISTER IS TELLING THE TRUTH. 

To put a bit of detail on it, Boris Johnson's PPS (personal private secretary) Ms Harrison, the MP for Copeland, worked in quite a committed way with a charter flight employee to make arrangements to get the animals evacuated. And in those letters she referred to her "boss". She was referring to Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of Britain.

She says that the work that she did on this was not with the involvement of Boris Johnson but, as mentioned, she referred to him in her communications. This, as stated in the title to this article, implies that she did this work at his direction or at least with his knowledge.

That contradicts what he has said in the past that he was uninvolved. If this is all true then this would be another allegation that the Prime Minister is being less than honest with the truth. This, in turn, goes to the original problem about his breaches of Covid social distancing rules and allegedly lying that he didn't break them.

Dominic Dyer and animal rights advocate who helped Pen Farthing evacuate the animals worked closely with the UK government. He says that the UK government intervened.

Someone is being economical with the truth. We don't know where lies.

Therefore, in this rather convoluted story we have a connection between cats and dogs, Boris Johnson, and a political crisis 😒. My personal view is that Boris Johnson is a decent bloke. He's quite liberal-minded. I think he was encouraged to briefly take part in these "parties" by perhaps his wife (on his birthday party) and in other gatherings by staff who arranged them. I don't think he organised them he simply was invited to them and didn't want to stop them happening because he's that kind of person.

Boris Johnson is a rule breaker. This has been made clear by teachers in his days when he was a student. One teacher stated that he doesn't believe that the normal social norms and rules apply to him. It is exactly why he's become so successful, ironically.

I also believe that his charming wife who I admire because she is a very dynamic animal advocate, is or has been a problem to him in his premiership. She has a hold over him because he loves her and wants to please her. She is quite headstrong and wants to get her way. Allegedly, she has asked him to do things which ostensibly have undermined his position. There's nothing to currently back that up in terms of evidence it looks like that to me.

The Sue Gray report will be coming up very soon and these points will be clarified. Although the Nowzad operation and Boris Johnson's involvement or not is not part of her mandate.