DOMINIC Raab must resign over his role in the Afghanistan “foreign policy disaster”, the SNP have said.
The Foreign Secretary is being urged to step down for not interrupting his “luxury” holiday to make a call to help translators flee Afghanistan.
The Foreign Secretary was reportedly “unavailable” when officials in his department suggested he “urgently” call Afghan foreign minister Hanif Atmar on Friday – two days before the Taliban marched on Kabul – in order to arrange help for those who supported British troops.
The Daily Mail added the Afghan foreign ministry then refused to arrange a call with a junior minister, pushing it back to the next day.
READ MORE: Dominic Raab 'unavailable' for key call with Afghan official as Taliban took over
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace argued the suggested phone call from Raab to his Afghan counterpart would not have made “any difference whatsoever” given the Afghan government was “melting away quicker than ice”.
But SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford (below) made his views clear. "Tory ministers cannot wash their hands of responsibility for this foreign policy disaster,” the MP said.
"Dominic Raab has failed to perform his basic duties as Foreign Secretary, and he has put people's lives at risk. His position is completely untenable and he must resign, or be sacked."
Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader, Liz Saville Roberts MP, added: “The Foreign Secretary and the life-saving phone call he didn’t make: a failure of political judgement, a shoulder-shrug to duty and a callous lack of humanity. He failed to make the right call. The Foreign Secretary no longer commands respect following his mishandling of duties during the Afghanistan emergency. Dominic Raab should resign or be removed from post.”
Raab, asked if he was going to resign as Foreign Secretary, told reporters in Downing Street: “No.”
Raab was holidaying on the Greek island of Crete and said to be staying at the Amirandes Hotel.
The five-star venue describes itself as a “boutique resort” which is “styled after the sprawling palaces of the Minoan kings and Venetian nobles who once ruled Crete” and offers “the easy elegance of true European luxury”.
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