The Zac Pack: the well-connected group quietly shaping Tory policy

Who let the dogs out? That’s the subject of a Whitehall probe into the recent Afghanistan debacle. When the Taliban took Kabul, an estimated 1,200 people who qualified for evacuation to the UK had to be left behind. But on 28 August, waiting Afghan families were left helpless on the ground as 173 cats and dogs were escorted past them into the airport and off to safety. The big question: on whose authority were animals put ahead of humans? And did any of this have the Prime Minister’s backing?

As ever with Johnsonian drama, the truth is elusive, but one minister seems closer to it than others. A parliamentary investigation unearthed an email from Zac Goldsmith’s ministerial team within the Foreign Office declaring that the PM had ‘authorised’ the animal evacuation. The minister continues to deny responsibility. But it fits with messages from Trudy Harrison, the PM’s then parliamentary private secretary, offering round-the-clock advice to those leading the animal rescue mission.