Tobias Ellwood’s Taliban blunder

It’s long been the case that trips abroad can allow for a new perspective – to broaden the mind. But Mr S can’t help but think, Tobias Ellwood’s summer jaunt to Afghanistan is taking this to an extreme. The Tory MP and chair of the Defence Select Committee has shared a video on Twitter urging people to ‘hold your breath’… Afghanistan is, he says, now a ‘country transformed’ with ‘security vastly improved, ‘corruption reduced’ and the ‘opium trade ended’. It’s a pity, of course, that the Taliban don’t allow women to wear lipstick, but they do have solar panels.

This is a far cry from Ellwood’s previous comments on the issue. Back in February, he insisted ‘there should be no equivocation over the reality of the Taliban’s oppressive and brutal regime’. Describing the UK’s hasty withdrawal from the country, Ellwood said: ‘Ultimately those who lost the most are the Afghan people.’

But now with ‘relatively safe’ streets and businesses reopening, Ellwood – who insists he is ‘no Taliban-appeaser’ – believes it is now time to reopen the British Embassy in Kabul.