Inside Politics: Raab’s ‘delegated phone call’ never took place and SNP close to deal with Greens

No surrender. That appears to be the message from Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, who is resisting calls to resign over Afghanistan. But he is under increasing pressure this morning amid reports of a smoking gun at the Foreign Office, where a spokesperson says the call he claims to have delegated to a junior colleague never took place. It’s the cover up that gets you in the end, as they say. Elsewhere, Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP is edging ever closer to doing a deal with the Green Party, which is also campaigning for IndyRef2.

Parliament is in recess.

Coming up shortly:

-Armed forces minister James Heappey on Times Radio Breakfast at 8.15am

-Shadow security minister Conor McGinn on talkRADIO at 8.20am

COVER UP: Raab was very unlikely to go yesterday but another report in this morning’s Mail may well have put him in a spot of bother. The paper reports that a call to his Afghan counterpart to help get translators out of Kabul, which it had been claimed was delegated to a junior minister, never actually happened. A Foreign Office spokesperson said it was “not possible to arrange” a call as Afghanistan disintegrated. Labour, already furious about Raab’s holidaying while the crisis unfolded, has pounced on the latest update, increasing calls for the foreign secretary to resign.

‘UNFORGIVABLE’: “For the prime minister and foreign secretary to be on holiday during the biggest foreign policy crisis in a generation is an unforgivable failure of leadership,” Lisa Nandy, the shadow foreign secretary, said. The party has set out a list of 18 urgent questions for Raab to answer about his trip and his department’s handling of the crisis, amid accusations that the Ministry of Defence did all the heavy lifting. It’s going to be another long day for the foreign secretary.

REALLY, MINISTER? The Mail’s top scoop, which splashes the paper, is accompanied by a nice double page spread inside, in which a series of allegations about how Raab conducts his business. Whitehall sources tell the paper he reads as little as “20 per cent” of his ministerial briefings, while other officials accused the foreign secretary of “appalling negligence” in running the Foreign Office. One insider claimed Raab had completely “checked out” on Afghanistan, adding: “How can you be bored of being the British foreign secretary?” He denies the claims.

KNIVES OUT: Raab’s handling of the Afghanistan crisis also leads The Guardian, which reports the foreign secretary ‘refused’ to take calls as Kabul fell. Much of yesterday’s criticism of Raab came from the opposition benches with Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, coming out to bat for his cabinet colleague. But some Tory MPs are now also calling for the Esher and Walton MP to go, although they are not going on the record. One unnamed Tory told the Guardian Raab’s position is now untenable and that “not coming home was his biggest mistake.” Raab is certainly under pressure but if we know anything about this PM, it’s that he’s unlikely to cave in.

REFUGEE HELP: Councils across the UK are calling for the government to take more refugees from Afghanistan, after it emerged only 5,000 will be allowed to come in the first year of “woefully inadequate” plans outlined by Johnson earlier this week. The story splashes The Independent, with Liverpool and Birmingham among the cities vowing to do more to help. The Independent is calling for ministers to scale up the programme.

AT THE BEACH: This morning’s Times also splashes on the government’s handling of the Afghanistan crisis, albeit with a different angle to the Mail and Guardian. The paper reports three of Britain’s most senior civil servants whose departments are overseeing the chaotic evacuation are on holiday. Sir Philip Barton, Matthew Rycroft and David Williams, permanent secretaries at the Foreign Office, the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence, are all on leave, according to the Times.

SCOTLAND DEAL: Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP government is set to announce a power-sharing deal with the pro-independence Scottish Greens on Friday, according to reports. The deal would see the Greens move into government for the very first time anywhere in the UK, following several months of negotiations with Sturgeon’s party. Opposition parties challenged the Greens not to become “the SNP’s lackeys” ahead of an expected co-operation agreement between the two parties.

BREXIT WOES: The food supply crisis which has seen Nando’s outlets across Britain closed up could see more restaurants shut in the weeks ahead, industry bosses have warned. Sector chiefs told The Independent Brexit was to blame for the nation’s supply chain woes – as the industry struggles to cope with production workers returning home to the EU and a drastic lack of lorry drivers able to come to the UK. Nick Allen, chief executive at the British Meat Processors Association, said the sector was struggling to get many product lines out to supermarkets and restaurants – with the UK’s meat production workforce down by up to 20 per cent.

“I’m always reluctant to get involved in how departments are being run, but if it is the case that the Foreign Office were asking the foreign secretary to intervene with the Afghan foreign minister, then it is one of the most extraordinary things I have ever heard, that on behalf of people to whom we owe a debt of honour, he thought it could be delegated to a junior minister.”

Labour MP and former foreign secretary Margaret Beckett on Raab’s conduct.

“The lottery of where you are born can determine whether you live or die because of who you are. LGBT+ rights in Afghanistan have always been brutally suppressed, but it is terrifying to see how history can so easily cycle backwards as well as forwards.”

ITV News editor Paul Brand on Afghanistan.