Cumbrian MP Trudy Harrison has become caught up in the latest Government scandal.
It has been claimed that Copeland MP Mrs Harrison, in her role as Boris Johnson’s aide, wrote to the boss of a charity in Afghanistan, confirming his staff and animals could be evacuated, despite the Prime Minister insisting he never intervened.
A whistleblower has claimed that Mr Johnson issued instructions to save animals from the Nowzad shelter during the mass evacuation from the country in August.
This, it has been alleged, wcould have potentially put British soldiers’ lives at risk.
Downing Street said the claims were untrue, but a letter from Mrs Harrison, who was Mr Johnson’s Parliamentary Private Secretary, says Nowzad’s 68 staff and animals would be provided with an RAF flight as part of the evacuation.
It has been reported that Mrs Harrison was part of a campaign team advocating for the charity and Sky News spoke a whistleblower who claimed Ms Harrison repeatedly referred to ‘my boss’ – which they took to mean Mr Johnson.
The letter, read out at a hearing of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee by Labour MP Chris Bryant said any animals under the care of Nowzad, could be evacuated on a separate chartered flight which would be made available by the Ministry of Defence.
In August last year, Mrs Harrison said she was concerned abou the safety of the charity’s staff in Aghanistan and pledged to campaign for them.
She said at the time she had been in close contact wth the Ministry of Defence and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office following concerns raised by her constituents.
She said she had worked though the weekend to secure a safe passage to the UK as she shared her constituents’ fears.
This morning, Mrs Harrison said: “I was assisting Pen Farthing and Nowzad as a constituency MP in response to many Copeland constituents’ requests to assist.”
