Leaked emails suggest Boris Johnson may have lied about evacuating animals before people from Afghanistan

“Equivalent charity Nowzad, run by an ex-Royal Marine, has received a lot of publicity and the PM has just authorised their staff and animals to be evacuated, [animal charity — name redacted] are hoping to be treated in the same capacity (granted LOTR),” the email reads, referring to permission to leave outside the rules of immigration.

A second email, sent between Foreign Office officials later that day, references the “PM’s decision” to evacuate Nowzad staff, but doesn’t mention animals.

“In light of the PM’s decision earlier today to evacuate the staff of the Nowzad animal charity, the [animal charity — name redacted] (another animal rights NGO) is asking for agreement to the entry of [details redacted] staff, all Afghan nationals,” it reads.

On its website, Nowzad confirms that its founder, Farthing, was rescued from Afghanistan with the organization’s staff and their immediate families, along with 94 dogs and 68 cats. In a statement responding to the leaked emails, Nowzad said it had no insight into how the decision was made to evacuate their animals and it is “appalled to find ourselves at the centre of a political media debate on who did what and when” in relation to the evacuation. It said Farthing had also submitted evidence to the select committee.

Downing Street has continued to deny that Johnson had any involvement in evacuating more than 150 animals, while evacuation requests from thousands of desperate Afghans went unfilled.

“It remains the case that the PM didn’t instruct officials on this case,” a Downing Street press officer said Wednesday.

The revelations mark the latest blow to Johnson, who is clinging to power despite drowning in scandals — among them, being accused of lying to Parliament over his knowledge of gatherings held at Downing Street during lockdown.

Opposition lawmaker John Healey tweeted Wednesday: “Once again, the PM has been caught out lying. He should never have given priority to flying animals out of Afghanistan while Afghans who worked for our forces were left behind.”

“We need to know why the PM overruled the Defense Secretary with this decision,” Healey said.

UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace had publicly said people must be prioritized when the military was in the midst of evacuating thousands at risk. But that changed suddenly on August 25, when Wallace announced on Twitter that they had been given the green light.

Once authorization was given, he tweeted “those most at risk” would continue to be processed first, adding, “no one has the right in this humanitarian crisis to jump the queue.”