Sir Philip Barton, the head of the Foreign Office, has been accused at a select committee hearing of covering up the PM’s involvement in the decision to evacuate dogs from Kabul. The Labour MP Chris Bryant made the accusation after he read out a leaked letter from Boris Johnson’s PPS which he said implied Johnson’s “fingers” were “all over” the controversial decision. (See 6.16pm.) Barton did not accept the charge, and earlier Johnson dismissed the accusation that he was involved as “complete nonsense”. (See 1.26pm.) At the foreign affairs committee hearing Barton also admitted that he was wrong not to return from holiday earlier in August as the Afghanistan crisis was unfolding. (See 3.38pm.) After the hearing Tom Tugendhat, the committee chair, said the hearing exposed a “lack of leadership” at the Foreign Office. He said: Today’s session left the committee concerned about the Foreign Office’s role in the evacuation effort. We have seen the disintegration of a nation British troops laid down their lives to protect. In leaving, many Afghan friends and partners were abandoned. This crisis demanded, and deserved, the full attention of the Foreign Office. It seems that junior staff members and soldiers bore most of the burden, having been placed under huge pressure to make life-or-death decisions with insufficient guidance, support or oversight. The evidence we’ve heard today points to a lack of leadership, urgency and adequate resourcing. Dominic Raab has rebuffed a number of charges from a whistleblower who claimed there was an incompetent and chaotic response to the fall of Kabul, saying he would make no apology for asking officials to resubmit urgent appeals for help from Afghans in a different spreadsheet format. Harriet Harman, Labour’s former deputy leader, has said she will step down at the next election after around 40 years in parliament. The government has apologised for failures in the lead up to the Grenfell Tower fire, admitting to “errors and missed opportunities” that helped create “an environment in which such a tragedy was possible”.