Biggest international crisis in decades and Dominic Raab is still away on holiday

That ignorant, arrogant, incompetent bastard Raab is not prepared to interrupt his holiday to deal with this huge international crisis, notwithstanding that's what he's being paid (by us) to do !!!


Dominic Raab accused of ‘going AWOL’ on holiday as Afghanistan falls to Taliban
Foreign secretary criticised for vacation during ‘biggest single policy disaster since Suez’

Gavin Cordon,Adam Forrest@adamtomforrest
59 minutes ago
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Taliban enter Kabul as US embassy in Afghanistan is evacuated

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab is under fire after spending the past week on holiday abroad while the situation in Afghanistan was unravelling.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said Mr Raab was returning to the UK on Sunday and was “personally overseeing” the department's response to the crisis.

However, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy said that his absence during a moment of major international upheaval was unacceptable.

“For the foreign secretary to go AWOL during an international crisis of this magnitude is nothing short of shameful,” Ms Nandy said.

The Labour MP added: “A catastrophe is unfolding in front of our eyes and while the foreign secretary is nowhere to be seen, hundreds of British nationals are being evacuated and his department is cancelling scholarships for young Afghans.”

Tory MP Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, was also scathing when asked about the FCDO's likely response to the collapse of the Afghan government.

“I don’t know what is in the works because we haven't heard from the foreign secretary in about a week, despite this being the biggest single policy disaster since Suez,” he told BBC News.

Tobias Ellwood, chair of the defence select committee, said it was the “biggest foreign policy failure in a generation,” adding that UK foreign policy had been “missing in action”.

MPs will be called back from their summer break to Westminster to discuss the worsening crisis in Afghanistan. Parliament will be recalled for one day on Wednesday to debate the government’s response.

Defence secretary Ben Wallace defended Mr Raab on Monday – insisting he had been in regular contact with cabinet colleagues for crucial meetings in recent days.

“I had no problem speaking to the foreign secretary, nor did the prime minister, nor anyone else engaging with the Foreign Office,” he told Sky News. “I have not been aware of any drop in service or inability to deliver. The whole of government has been tasked on this.”

An FCDO spokesman said: “The foreign secretary is personally overseeing the FCDO response and engaging with international partners. He is returning to the UK today, given the situation.”

Mr Raab meanwhile tweeted that he had been sharing his “deep concerns” about the situation in Afghanistan with Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

He said they had agreed it was critical that "the international community is united in telling the Taliban that the violence must end and human rights must be protected".

Meanwhile, Lord Ricketts, the former National Security Adviser, predicted that the Taliban will not “make the mistake of allowing al-Qaeda to re-establish themselves in Afghanistan” and that terrorism in the UK is not “an immediate concern in terms of Afghanistan”.

Both Boris Johnson and his defence secretary have made clear British troops would not be returning to Afghanistan to fight the Taliban. Mr Wallace said on Monday: “That’s not on the cards – we’re going to go back.”