UK politics live: Former veterans minister hits out at ‘ineptitude’ over Afghan resettlement scheme

Suella Braverman’s husband has quit Reform UK after chairman Zia Yusuf criticised her over the government’s Afghan data leak.

Ms Braverman’s husband Rael defected from the Conservatives to join Nigel Farage’s party last year, as reported by The Independent, but the former home secretary stuck with the Conservatives.

But, after Mr Yusuf implied Ms Braverman – alongside ex-immigration minister Robert Jenrick – was responsible for covering up the scandal, her husband announced he had left the party.

“I have left Reform effective immediately,” Mr Braverman wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Mr Yusuf had compared the Afghan scandal to treason, pointing out that Ms Braverman was home secretary at the time.

This will be the Labour leader’s last PMQs before the long summer recess, when Parliament closes until September.

After a difficult few weeks, which saw his backbenchers blow a multi-billion pound hole in the government’s finances with a revolt over welfare cuts and his chancellor cry in the Commons, Sir Keir could be forgiven for hoping today would be a relatively straightforward outing.

But he is set to be grilled by MPs after the extraordinary revelation on Tuesday that the government used a superinjunction to keep secret an email blunder which triggered the evacuation of thousands of Afghans brought to the UK under a secret resettlement scheme.

He will be glad of summer when it comes.

Former Conservative defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace has hit back at his former ministerial colleague Johnny Mercer.

As noted in the previous post (10.59am), Mr Mercer criticised the “hapless display of incompetence” by the government over the Afghan resettlement scheme.

When asked about the comments on LBC, Sir Ben said: “No, I don’t agree with it. I think my record would show the opposite. It was me and Priti Patel, before the collapse of Kabul, who decided we were going to accelerate bringing people back who were under threat …

“People hadn’t come out before. And we made sure that we did this. I think what Johnny fails to grasp is quite the massive scale of collapse that happened very quickly in Afghanistan, leaving people at risk, and we had to do our very best.”

Former veterans minister Johnny Mercer has criticised the “hapless display of incompetence” by the British government over the Afghan resettlement scheme.

Writing for The Telegraph, Mr Mercer revealed how officials leaked sensitive data about Afghan allies online, describing it as “mind-boggling” but unsurprising given years of systemic failure.

Mr Mercer, who led an Afghan task force under then-prime minister Rishi Sunak, blamed successive ministers and civil servants for blocking former Afghan special forces from coming to the UK – even after many had risked their lives alongside British troops.

He said he was left “furious, sad and bitter” at a process that allowed thousands with “tenuous links” to the UK while leaving commandos like his former colleague Naveed trapped under Taliban threat.

The former minister accused the Ministry of Defence of rejecting applications without explanation and described the entire system as chaotic, adding: “Short of hiring a Land Rover and going for it, I’m running out of ideas.”

“I feel furious, sad and bitter about the whole thing,” he wrote, adding that “we’ve let into this country thousands with little or tenuous links to the UK, and still some Afghan special forces… remain trapped in Afghanistan, Pakistan or worse, Iran.”

Our Social Affairs Correspondent Holly Bancroft reports:

Sir Keir Starmer has put a “lot of effort” in to “cultivate” a relationship with US President Donald Trump, a Cabinet ally of the Prime Minister has said.

With Mr Trump having said he will meet Sir Keir in Aberdeen later this month during a private visit to Scotland, Scottish Secretary Ian Murray said holding talks with the president is the “right thing to do”.

He said US tariffs and the situation in Ukraine could be on the agenda for those discussions.

Scottish First Minister John Swinney will also meet the president – who recently voiced his support for the oil and gas sector over wind power projects.

Mr Murray said: “At this stage we have no sight of what the president’s programme is, but we do know the First Minister and the Prime Minister will meet him, and it is right for them both to do so.”

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, the Scottish Secretary added the meetings are “the right thing to do because those relationships are incredibly important in terms of our own national interest”.

He added: “We should make sure we are working very closely with our allies for the benefit of Scotland and the whole of the United Kingdom.”

Our World Affairs Editor Sam Kiley writes:

Students of imperial history will recall the hundreds of treaties signed with local chiefs, kings and leaders that were waved aside in the interests of the empire.

The French call their deep distrust of Les Anglo-Saxons “Fashoda syndrome” – named after a sordid episode of British duplicity that delivered an obscure bit of southern Sudan to the UK in the 19th century, and triggered the enduring distrust of our closest neighbour up to this day.

Now we have the Kabul cock-up. It will inevitably serve to undermine Britain’s woeful and feeble international reputation – and drive some of those who have been betrayed into the arms of our enemies.

Read the full article below:

Sir Ben Wallace, who was defence secretary when the data breach happened, has said he takes complete responsibility for the leak.

Asked why the official responsible for the leak is still employed by the government, Sir Ben said: “I take complete responsibility for the mistake that was made by that person… I was secretary of state for defence”.