London Daily

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

Whistleblower accuses UK of manipulation to save face during Afghan pull back

Whistleblower accuses UK of manipulation to save face during Afghan pull back

Thousands of emails about Afghans seeking help after the Taliban takeover were marked as read as part of a “public relations” effort to allow the UK government to claim there were no unread messages, a whistleblower has said.

The allegations are part of damning testimony from Raphael Marshall – a desk officer for the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) – to MPs published on Tuesday. Marshall, who was part of the response team that monitored these “desperate and urgent” emails – outlined a list of government failures during the chaotic evacuation at the end of August.

Estimating that between 75,000 and 150,000 “at risk” people had made requests for rescue under a special cases scheme, Marshall said that “fewer than 5% of these” [had] “received any assistance” and noted that “it is clear that some of those left behind have since been murdered by the Taliban.”

"Between Wednesday 25 August and Wednesday 1 September, I believe emails were processed by marking them with a flag once read but were not entered into a spreadsheet... I believe the purpose of this system was to allow the prime minister and the then foreign secretary to inform MPs that there were no unread emails."


By August 25, Marshall said there was already a backlog of over 5,000 unread emails, many dating back to earlier in the month. A large number of these were read but not recorded onto a spreadsheet. Staff shortages, unclear selection criteria for evacuation and other failures meant people were “de facto eliminated from the evacuation process.”

Then, following an August 29 media report on the backlog, both the special cases mailbox and the similarly overflowing inbox for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme were locked. Marshall said that this decision was either an “admission that... the FCDO’s method of processing the emails only served a public relations purpose” or a failure to realize that restricting access to the emails “undermined rescue efforts for public relations purposes.”

Meanwhile, all mail senders received a message telling them their request for help had been “logged” but this was “usually false,” Marshall said. This included “hundreds if not thousands” of emails from British MPs. This and other failures, which he said undermined the effectiveness of the system, were compounded by policy delays by then-foreign secretary Dominic Raab – who Marshall suggests “did not fully understand the situation.”

However, Raab later pushed back against the criticism, questioning Marshall’s estimates about the scale of the problem while noting that some of it was “dislocated” from the facts on the ground.

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
×