Boris Johnson has had a very uncomfortable start to today’s Commons debate on Afghanistan. Not only did he have a series of critical interventions from his own backbenchers when he was speaking, he then had to sit through an unusually powerful speech from Sir Keir Starmer. The Leader of the Opposition criticised the PM’s ‘careless leadership’, slammed the Foreign Secretary’s ‘dereliction of duty’ in remaining on holiday as the situation worsened, and pointed to an ‘unforgivable’ lack of planning over the 18 months following Donald Trump’s deal with the Taliban.
This was swiftly followed by an equally furious Theresa May. She reminded her successor that he and Joe Biden had indicated in July of this year that they did not think the Taliban was really capable of returning to power, and argued that ‘this has been a major setback for British foreign policy’. ‘Where is “Global Britain” on the streets of Kabul?’ she asked.
Starmer argued that it would be a betrayal of the sacrifices made if ‘preventing al-Qaeda training camps is now the limit of our ambition’.
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