London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Jul 10, 2025

Boris Johnson: UK will continue with final stages of Kabul airlift

Prime minister says ‘we’re going to keep going until the last moment’, despite deadly attack on airport
UK forces will continue with the final stages of an evacuation programme from Kabul despite a deadly suicide bombing and gun attack outside the city’s airport, Boris Johnson has said.

But while the prime minister said the UK had extracted the “overwhelming majority” of UK nationals or Afghans eligible to be removed, a series of MPs warned they knew of large numbers who faced being stranded.

Several MPs said that of hundreds of constituents’ family members seeking to leave, many of them UK passport holders, almost none had made it, and that relatives in the UK were being advised to email advice services that never replied.

Johnson chaired a meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee after two powerful suicide bombs and a gunman struck one of the main entrances to the Afghan capital’s international airport.

“We’re going to keep going up until the last moment,” the prime minister said. “The conclusion is that we’re able to continue with the programme in the way that we’ve been running it, according to the timetable that we’ve got.”

He added: “We’re now coming towards the very end of it in any event, and we’ve already extracted the overwhelming majority of those under both the schemes – the eligible persons, UK nationals, the Afghan interpreters and others. And it’s been totally phenomenal effort by the UK. There’s been nothing like it for decades and decades.”

Johnson said that while some people eligible to reach the UK would not be reached before the airlift ended, the UK would pressure the Taliban to let them out – something Afghanistan’s new rulers have said they will not do.

Government figures released on Thursday night said that more than 13,140 people had been evacuated by the UK military since the mission began on 13 August. This included embassy staff, British nationals, those eligible under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (Arap) programme and some nationals from partner nations.

However, a number of MPs told the Guardian they knew of large numbers of people still in Afghanistan who were eligible to leave for the UK who now had no idea how this would happen.

The Labour MP Lyn Brown, who represents West Ham in east London, said she was “infuriated” with the response she received from the government, calling it “a complete dereliction of duty”.

Over the course of the crisis her office has taken up cases on behalf of 82 people living in her constituency. But most of them have been asking for help on behalf of multiple family members, and so her office has been trying to help 356 individuals reach Britain.

One of the most harrowing cases involved a British girl of school age needing a passport to leave. Brown’s office first raised this with the Home Office early last week, but it took days to get a response and the girl was only told to go to the Baron hotel – where people have been processed ahead of evacuation by the British – as the airlift mission was coming close to the end.

On Thursday afternoon Brown and her staff were told the girl had been on a bus cleared to head for the airport – but that she and others without a passport had then been ordered off by a solider, and left stranded.

Harriet Harman, the Labour MP for Camberwell and Peckham in south London, said that of 228 family members of 34 constituents, including UK nationals, joint UK-Afghan nationals, and relatives of UK nationals, none had managed to leave since the Taliban took over.

While ministers have been briefing MPs, Harman said, it appeared impossible to get news on how people could leave.

“They keep saying, ‘Here’s an email address to get updates,’” she said. “But we have had no feedback aside from the changing kaleidoscope of general advice. We’ve had no feedback on our individual cases. None of us have.

“Really it would be better for the ministers to just say, ‘Sorry, we can’t give you any updates, because we haven’t got the capacity.’ Obviously, there’s a sense of mounting desperation.”

Alison Thewliss, the Scottish National party MP for Glasgow Central, said up to 50 constituents were similarly seeking news. “We’ve had one family who had to move from house to house to house, and then to the airport to wait. That’s women on their own, with five children, one of them eight months pregnant.

“We’re providing the information that we have, but it’s not really specific enough to help people. It’s really difficult. It’s been difficult for my entire team. We don’t have any answers to give folk. And we’re really, really conscious that we’re running out of time.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
NVIDIA Achieves Historic Milestone as First Company Valued at $4 Trillion
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as CEO of X After Two Years
US Imposes New Tariffs on Brazilian Exports Amid Political Tensions
Azerbaijan and Armenia are on the brink of a historic peace deal.
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Weinstein Victim’s Lawyer Says MeToo Movement Still Strong
U.S. Enacts Sweeping Tax and Spending Legislation Amid Trade Policy Shifts
Football Mourns as Diogo Jota and Brother André Silva Laid to Rest in Portugal
Labour Expected to Withdraw Support for Special Needs Funding Model
Leaked Audio Reveals Tory Aide Defending DEI Record
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
London Stock Exchange Faces Historic Low in Initial Public Offerings
A new online platform has emerged in the United Kingdom, specifically targeting Muslim men seeking virgin brides
Trump Celebrates Independence Day with B-2 Flyover and Signs Controversial Legislation
Boris Johnson Urges Conservatives to Ignore Farage
SNP Ordered to Update Single-Sex Space Guidance Within Days
Starmer Set to Reject Calls for Wealth Taxes
Stolen Century-Old Rolls-Royce Recovered After Hotel Theft
Macron Presses Starmer to Recognise Palestinian State
Labour Delayed Palestine Action Ban Over Riot Concerns
Swinney’s Tax Comments ‘Offensive to Scots’, Say Tories
High Street Retailers to Enforce Bans on Serial Shoplifters
Music Banned by Henry VIII to Be Performed After 500 Years
Steve Coogan Says Working Class Is Being ‘Ethnically Cleansed’
Home Office Admits Uncertainty Over Visa Overstayer Numbers
JD Vance Questions Mandelson Over Reform Party’s Rising Popularity
Macron to Receive Windsor Carriage Ride in Royal Gesture
Labour Accused of ‘Hammering’ Scots During First Year in Power
BBC Head of Music Stood Down Amid Bob Vylan Controversy
Corbyn Eyes Hard-Left Challenge to Starmer’s Leadership
London Tube Trains Suspended After Major Fire Erupts Nearby
Richard Kemp: I Felt Safer in Israel Under Attack Than in the UK
Cyclist Says Police Cited Human Rights Act for Riding No-Handed
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Musk Battles to Protect Tesla Amid Trump Policy Threats
Air France-KLM Acquires Majority Stake in Scandinavian Airlines
UK Educators Sound Alarm on Declining Child Literacy
Shein Fined €40 Million in France Over Misleading Discounts
Brazil’s Lula Visits Kirchner During Argentina House Arrest
Trump Scores Legislative Win as House Passes Tax Reform Bill
Keir Starmer Faces Criticism After Rocky First Year in Power
DJI Launches Heavy-Duty Coaxial Quadcopter with 80 kg Lift Capacity
U.S. Senate Approves Major Legislation Dubbed the 'Big Beautiful Bill'
Largest Healthcare Fraud Takedown in U.S. History Announced by DOJ
×