DOMINIC Raab has told reporters he will not resign despite calls for him to do so.
The Foreign Secretary has come under fire from Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the SNP and Plaid Cymru after it emerged he ignored advice to call his Afghan counterpart last Friday.
In a memo leaked to the Daily Mail, Mr Raab was advised by his aides to phone Afghan foreign minister Hanif Atmar to ask for help in organsiation the evacuation of interpreters as the Taliban advancedon Kabul.
Mr Raab was on a luxury holiday in Crete at the time, and did not make the call. It was passed on to junior minister Zac Goldsmith, with the Afghan representatives initialy rejecting the arrangement as it was not with Mr Atmar's direct UK counterpart.
Asked by reporters in Downing Street this morning if he was going to resign, Mr Raab said simply "no" before entering No.10.
Labour's shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy questioned the Prime Minister's judgement this morning, saying: "How can Boris Johnson allow the Foreign Secretary to continue in his role after yet another catastrophic failure of judgement?
"If Dominic Raab doesn't have the decency to resign, the Prime Minister must show a shred of leadership and sack him."
SNP Westminster Leader Ian Blackford MP said: "Dominic Raab has failed to perform his basic duties as Foreign Secretary, and he has put people's lives at risk. His position is completely untenable and he must resign, or be sacked."
Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokeswoman Layla Moran said Mr Raab would go down as one of the "worst foreign secretaries in history" after the revelations.
Ministers scrambled to defend Mr Raab this morning, with defence secretary Ben Wallace claiming that the phone call to Mr Atmar would not have made any difference.
Yesterday Mr Raab and Boris Johnson were both rounded on by their own MPs, as well as the opposition, for their response to the worsening crisis in Afghanistan.
MPs also showed their fury at President Joe Biden during the 7-hour debate, after he suggested that the fall of the country to the Taliban was the fault of the Afghan military and its leaders.
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