The Foreign Office's most senior civil servant stayed on holiday for 11 days after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August, he has revealed.

Sir Philip Barton, the Head of the Diplomatic Service, said he had "reflected a lot" on his decision to stay on holiday while the UK Government evacuated Britons and refugees from Afghanistan and believes he was wrong to do so.

"If I had my time again, I would have come back from my leave earlier," he told MPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Sir Philip was on holiday from August 9 to August 26, spanning the period Afghanistan fell to the Taliban and including the fall of Kabul on August 15.

He returned from his holiday on the day an Isis-K member deployed a suicide bomb outside the gates of Kabul's airport, killing at least 183 people.

But he said: "I don't believe me being present in London as opposed to on leave and keeping in touch with the department would have changed the outcome, you know the number of people who were evacuated."

Tory MP Alicia Kearns was heard to say he "couldn't be bothered" in reply.

Read more here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/12/07/chronicle-chaos-really-went-foreign-office-staff-struggled-choose/

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