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Tom Newton Dunn

@tnewtondunn

Feb 21

Explosive evidence from Johnny Mercer to the Afghan inquiry today + a major new headache now for Grant Shapps / No10. Accuses ex-Director of Special Forces Roly Walker and Army head Mark Carleton-Smith of concealing information over whether the SAS executed 33 unarmed Afghans (1)

Mercer says Walker and Carleton-Smith (both ex-SAS) allowed him to mislead the Commons by effectively telling him there was nothing to see when they were aware of secret email chains. “I am angry with these people. They did not do their job. I was being gamed the entire time" (2)

Blue on blue: Mercer also accuses former Defence Secretary Ben Wallace of not taking the allegations seriously enough. As Vets Minister, Mercer formally wrote to Wallace to ask permission to make a new Commons statement to correct the record. Mercer says Wallace refused him (3)

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Tom Newton Dunn

@tnewtondunn

Jul 18, 2022

@TheNewsDesk

Kemi Badenoch interview on tonight’s @TheNewsDesk - on the tone of the contest, she tells us: “I don't think it's got nasty actually. I do think that we're just having the arguments which we've all been having behind closed doors just in front of everyone else”.

Says she WOULD delay hitting net zero carbon emissions by 2050 if there is no workable plan to meet it: “Yes, there are circumstances where I would delay it, but I think that the target itself is a bit of a red herring. We need to look at the plan…

…I believe there is climate change and that’s something we do need to tackle, but we have to do it in a way that doesn't bankrupt our economy. We've got to take people with us. What would happen if we moved it to 2060 or 2070? We're not going to be here. Let's be realistic”.

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Tom Newton Dunn

@tnewtondunn

Mar 13, 2022

A Ukraine/Arsenal thread:

Oleg “The Horse” Luzhny was a tough right back who won the double with Arsenal in 2002. Much loved by supporters and players alike, he was nicknamed The Horse because of his galloping charges up the wing and, well, because he was hung like one (1)

Oleg is Ukrainian, and the first player from his country to win a major trophy in England. He is 53 now, and hasn’t played for Arsenal for 19 years. In solidarity, the club again included him in today’s squad for its home game against Leicester, under his old shirt number 22 (2)

Where is Oleg now? He’s back in Ukraine. Like so many of his countrymen, he has left his job (coaching a football team) to join up and fight (3)

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Tom Newton Dunn

@tnewtondunn

Dec 8, 2021

Rumours abounding of an imminent Quad meeting to discuss imposing Plan B as early as tomorrow morning, meaning Working From Home and covid passports for large venues. One source tells me it's "85% likely". Let's see. One helluva dead cat.

I've put this to Downing Street, who have not denied it. No10 source simply says "no decisions have been made".

There is disquiet about how quickly this decision process is moving in Whitehall. I’m told the Covid Taskforce is yet to even submit papers to the PM and Health Sec on Plan B, which were due later in the week. A source tells me: “Boris decided to do it last night”.

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Tom Newton Dunn

@tnewtondunn

Dec 7, 2021

FCDO's head, Sir Philip Barton, admits it was a mistake for him to remain on holiday through out the Afghan crisis. He only returned to work on August 26, 11 days after Kabul fell. Tells FAC: "I have reflected a lot. If I had my time again, I would have come back earlier”.

This is the first time Barton has revealed the date he returned to the Foreign Office. The last US military flight left Kabul on August 30, meaning Sir Philip stayed on holiday through almost the whole of the desperate three week airlift. This is simply staggering.

Tory MP Alicia Kearns, a former civil servant who has worked in FCO crisis centres, asks Barton: “If this isn’t what failure looks like, what does?”

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Tom Newton Dunn

@tnewtondunn

Sep 1, 2021

Raab at FAC: asked why he didn't do more to build a new coalition to replace the US in Afghanistan? A key question. Raab evades saying what personal efforts he made to insist it was never doable anyway. “Nobody was going to backfill the capacity that the US provided”.

Raab goes on to say Afghanistan has effectively been a failed mission for years. "At what point did we last have the military objectives identified and the exit strategy to achieve them?" Once it's realised it's a mission without end, the decision must be to pull out, he argues.

Tugendhat immediately hits back to ask: "What is the US’s exit strategy from South Korea?" Raab appears stumped: “I don’t know that”. But then insists the analogy is false.

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