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Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE The 'useful idiots' in the Prime Minister's ranks who blew up the law to prevent the hounding of veterans
A former Conservative minister has described military veterans in the Labour Party as 'useful idiots' after they tore up his law to protect soldiers. Johnny Mercer, the architect of the Legacy Act, took aim at the former troops who have left Northern Ireland veterans exposed. The former Veterans Minister brought in the first legislation to shield service personnel from historical witch hunts. Mr Mercer, who served in Afghanistan, blamed veterans who joined the Labour Party for undoing his work. The current Veterans Minister is Al Carns, a former Royal Marines officer. Action to remove protections for troops has happened on his watch. Yesterday, the Mail launched a campaign to stop the betrayal of British troops hounded by the threat of legal action decades after their service. The newspaper is demanding ministers U-turn on their bid to repeal the Legacy Act or produce a proper alternative. Last night, a petition calling for the protections of Northern Ireland veterans had reached just under 150,000 signatures. There will be a full parliamentary debate on the issue on July 14. It comes as former SAS soldiers face possible murder charges after a judge in Northern Ireland ruled the shooting of four IRA terrorists in 1992 was unlawful. Yesterday, the Mail's campaign received fulsome backing from MPs, including Sir David Davis and Tory defence spokesman Mark Francois. Last night Mr Mercer, who is no longer an MP, said: 'Veterans in the Labour Party should hang their heads in shame. 'They have become modern day useful idiots in a party determined to shout about veteran credentials then roll back all the important advances made by the previous government. 'None more so than legislation to protect our people from vexatious prosecutions in Northern Ireland. I made promises to veterans and I kept them. It took almost ten years. To repeal what we fought so hard for is frankly unconscionable. The hounding of these veterans is fundamentally unjust. So we kept going to produce the Legacy Act. 'I am proud of that and I fully support what the Mail is doing to ensure soldiers are protected.' The Labour manifesto at last year's general election included a pledge to repeal the 'unlawful' act. This followed a ruling by a court in Northern Ireland on clauses in the act providing conditional immunity from prosecutions for Troubles-era crimes. The act also introduced a ban on inquests and future civil actions related to the same period. In February 2024, the High Court in Belfast found these were in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 2 of the ECHR places an investigative duty on the state where its agents may have been involved in causing death or serious injury. In such circumstances, countries that are signatories to the convention are obliged to conduct an effective and independent investigation. In parliament yesterday Mr Francois said: 'The present Labour government intends to use a Remedial Act to remove key provisions within the Act. 'This will open the endless cycle of investigation and re-investigation, often by coronial inquests. This policy is a disaster for recruitment and retention and we vigorously oppose it. In that context, we warmly welcome the Daily Mail's campaign, launched this morning, to defend our veterans.' Mr Francois, who served as a defence minister in a previous Conservative government also quoted the Mail's editorial which said it was 'profoundly unfair that frail ex-servicemen will continue to live in dread of a knock on the door by the authorities, while IRA murderers sleep easily, with letters of immunity handed to them by Tony Blair'. In the same debate, Sir David said: 'This is not just about Special Forces, it is about all of the armed forces. There are about 20 inquests into actions by government agencies that could be restarted after the end of the legacy legislation. 'If we continue down this path we will betray our past and jeopardise our future. The Mail's campaign has received fulsome backing from MPs, including Sir David Davis and Tory defence spokesman Mark Francois 'This campaign of persecution sends a chilling message to the next generation: serve your country, risk your life and face prosecution in your old age. Why would any young man or woman sign up for that.' The case at the centre of the campaign involved 12 SAS soldiers facing possible murder charges over the 1992 shooting of four IRA terrorists. Police concluded at the time there should be no prosecutions. But earlier this year a coroner ruled their use of force was excessive, despite the terrorists being armed with a heavy machine gun and other weapons. Files have been passed to the Director of Public Prosecutions in Northern Ireland. A move which could trigger a criminal investigation. Last night, the Northern Ireland Secretary, Hilary Benn, said: 'The Legacy Act has been found by our domestic courts to be unlawful. 'Any incoming government would have to repeal unlawful legislation and it is wrong for anyone to suggest otherwise. 'The Defence Secretary and I are engaging with our veterans community and with all interested parties over future legislation and we will ensure there are far better protections in place. 'We owe it to all who were affected by the Troubles across the United Kingdom to be honest about the unworkability of the Legacy Act and to get this new legislation right.'
The Independent
24-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
UK urged to bring hundreds of Afghan heroes to safety after major blunder saw them wrongly rejected
The British government has been urged to hasten the relocation of hundreds of Afghan heroes to the UK after Ministry of Defence (MoD) failures saw them left at the mercy of the Taliban. Thousands of applications for sanctuary from Afghans who worked with British troops were rejected despite them having credible links to the UK special forces (UKSF). The High Court heard this week that one UK special forces officer oversaw the blanket rejection of 1,585 cases during the summer of 2023. Ministers had initially denied that Afghan commandos, known as the Triples, had been paid by the UK government, but were forced to backtrack and announce a review into 2,000 applications. Around 600 Afghan allies, whose applications were among the initial 2,000 re-examined, have been granted approval to come to the UK. Now government lawyers have said that a further estimated 2,500 applications have been identified for review after the MoD realised the significance of rediscovered payroll data, paving the way for hundreds more to be brought to sanctuary. Former veterans minister Johnny Mercer has said that he is "shocked and appalled" by the failings in the MoD's initial handling of the applications. Campaigners and former military chiefs called on the government to speed up the relocation of these brave soldiers to the UK. Colonel Simon Diggins, former defence attache in Afghanistan, said that poor records had been kept by the UKSF, impacting the lives of the Triples soldiers. He said: 'We know that these individuals' lives are in danger. There is a real imperative to do something about it and to do it quickly. The accusation of poor data keeping is fair but now we have some records there is also an imperative to come up with a quicker way of dealing with this [Triples' evacuation].' Sarah Fenby-Dixon, Afghanistan consultant at the Refugee Aid Network, said: 'It is vital that the review process for all cases is speeded up, as even after being granted eligibility some people are waiting many months or even years before being transferred to safety.' A former senior member of the Triples, who is now in the UK, has brought the legal challenge against the government's processing of applications, with the case reaching the High Court this week. Thomas de la Mare KC, for the claimant, argued that guidance on how resettlement decisions were made should be made public and likened the failings to 'a crime scene'. In a witness statement to court, a senior civil servant said a new 'phase two' of the Triples review would re-examine 'at least several hundred although this may be as many as c2,500 applications'. The MoD said this would likely bring in soldiers who had served in the later years of the conflict in Afghanistan. Around 130 cases from the initial review will be moved into phase two, lawyers told the court. The High Court heard how the initial review was prompted after senior civil servants became concerned about how resettlement applications were being decided. It has since emerged that there was an effective 'blanket practice of automatic refusal', which left these highly trained Afghan soldiers at the mercy of the Taliban. A particular UK special forces officer was overseeing hundreds of rejections during a 'sprint' in the summer of 2023 to rush through decisions, the court heard. The MoD said that the officer's approach to decision-making was 'lax and unprofessional' and reached 'decisions far too quickly'. MoD caseworkers were also 'overly reliant' on UKSF personnel, and were 'not consistently exercising their own independent judgement', the government found. MPs have previously raised concerns about the potential bias of UKSF personnel having power over resettlement of Afghan allies amid an ongoing inquiry into alleged crimes by the UKSF in Afghanistan between 2010 and 2013. Some of the Afghan commandos who applied for UK sanctuary could be witnesses to the events being examined by the independent inquiry. Mr Mercer, who raised concerns about decision-making with senior civil servants in early 2024, said: 'When I raised what was happening with the most senior officers and civil servants in the UK government, one in particular from UKSF claimed he was offended that I had and it was offensive to the UKSF. He was either lying to my face as a cabinet minister which is serious enough, or is so deeply incompetent he didn't know.' The MoD estimates that around 5,000 people were members of the Triples, working alongside the UKSF, during the Afghan war. General Sir John McColl, the UK's former special envoy to Afghanistan, said he believed the MoD had 'worked really hard to do the right thing for the Triples'. He said it was good that the MoD is re-examining up to 2,500 more cases and pressed for resources to be given to the team in charge of dealing with Afghan cases. He added that the delay in help was 'a combination of the record-keeping not being particularly good and that the withdrawal was as chaotic and fractured as we all recall'. 'We are now nearly four years on since the withdrawal and in that time these people have been in great danger, some of them will have been in harms way as a consequence of the delay, which is very unfortunate', he said. Col Diggins added: 'If there are potentially 2,000 more people, who with their family members could equal up to 10,000 people, that's a big number. We have an obligation to them for their service but we need to think differently about how we do the evacuations. 'We also need to ensure that if we are going to bring people from Afghanistan to this country, there are supported by a proper programme of integration when they get here.'
Daily Mail
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Afghan commandos denied asylum over fears they may have witnessed 'war crimes by British troops' - despite the fact they now face retribution from the Taliban for fighting on our side
A Special Forces officer rejected the asylum applications of 1,585 Afghan soldiers who may have witnessed war crimes by British troops. Court documents showed the officer rejected every bid by the Afghan commandos, known as Triples, despite the troops still facing revenge from the Taliban for fighting with the British. Some Triples have been killed since the government was toppled in Kabul in August 2021. Troops' applications were rejected in 2023 – just months before a High Court inquiry into allegations of an SAS shoot-to-kill policy began. The inquiry is looking into claims the three separate SAS units murdered 80 or more Afghan captives on night raids between 2010 and 2013. The units were accompanied by the Triples on these missions. It is feared the unnamed Special Forces officer was trying to ensure Triples could not give evidence. Once in Britain, they could have been summoned to reveal they saw UK troops conduct extrajudicial killings. Former veterans minister Johnny Mercer – who campaigned for the Triples to come to this country – said he was 'appalled'. He added: 'When I raised this as happening to the most senior civil servants in UK Government, one in particular from UK Special Forces claimed he was 'offended' that I could make such a suggestion. 'He was either lying to my face... or he was so deeply incompetent he didn't know this was going on. 'I stand ready to assist any legal action against the Government for what is increasingly taking on the appearance or criminal negligence that has seen some of these good men killed.' The documents emerged as part of a judicial review into the Government's handling of the Triples' asylum applications. The case was brought by a Triples officer whose former colleagues have been killed and tortured by the Taliban while waiting for asylum in Britain. The judge-led inquiry into claims of SAS war crimes is due to publish its findings later this year. The MoD had claimed there was no blanket policy banning the Triples. But in an embarrassing U-turn, the department's lawyer was forced to acknowledge during the inquiry that there had been.
Arab News
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Single UK Special Forces officer rejected 1,585 Afghan resettlement applications
LONDON: A court has been told a UK Special Forces officer personally rejected 1,585 applications from Afghans for resettlement in Britain. The applications were all from people with credible links to UKSF personnel, the Ministry of Defense told the court, amid an ongoing investigation into alleged war crimes by the Special Air Service in Afghanistan. The BBC revealed last week that the individual in question may have rejected applications from people with eye-witness testimony relating to the allegations. Numerous former Afghan special forces soldiers, known as Triples due to their regiment numbers, served alongside UK forces until the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban in 2021. Thousands of them and their relatives have subsequently struggled to obtain permission to travel to the UK. The public inquiry into the conduct of UKSF soldiers in Afghanistan, meanwhile, lacks the power to compel former Triples soldiers to testify unless they are in the UK. In October 2022 Natalie Moore, the head of the Ministry of Defense's Afghan resettlement team, voiced concern that UKSF involved in applications for resettlement were giving the 'appearance of an unpublished mass rejection policy.' In January last year, former Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer told senior government officials there was a 'significant conflict of interest that should be obvious to all' in the processing of resettlement applications by UKSF personnel. 'Decision-making power,' Mercer claimed, over 'potential witnesses to the inquiry,' was 'deeply inappropriate.' Mercer also noted that a number of former Triples soldiers had been killed by the Taliban after being left to wait in Afghanistan, including one whose application was rejected having 'previously confronted UKSF leadership about EJKs (extrajudicial killings) in Afghanistan.' The MoD initially denied UKSF personnel had a veto over the applications of former Triples soldiers, who having been armed, trained and funded by the UK, were deemed at risk of reprisals if left in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of coalition forces. However, more than 2,000 applications deemed credible by caseworkers have been rejected by the UKSF. The MoD subsequently announced a review of the applications over fears the process was not 'robust.' An additional 2,500 rejected applications were placed under review this week by the government. So far, more than 600 of the 1,585 rejections attributed to the single UKSF officer have been overturned. The revelations about the UKSF member who rejected the 1,585 applications were made at a judicial review hearing brought by former Triples soldiers over the conflict of interest in resettlement decision-making, which also heard the MoD had launched two investigations into UKSF practices. One investigation, known as Operation X, said that it 'did not obtain any evidence of hidden motives on the part of the UKSF liaison officer.' It added it found 'no evidence of automatic/instant/mass rejections,' but failed to provide evidence in its conclusion, instead suggesting the decisions were made as a result of 'slack and unprofessional verification processes' by the UKSF officer and 'lax procedures followed by the officer in not following up on all lines of enquiry before issuing rejections.' Tom de la Mare KC, representing the Afghan Triple soldier who brought the case, accused the MoD of failing to disclose evidence of blanket application rejections, and of 'providing misleading responses to requests for information,' the BBC said. Cathryn McGahey KC, acting for the MoD, said 'there might have been a better way of doing (the applications process), but that doesn't make it unlawful.' Daniel Carey, partner at law firm DPG, acting for the former Triples soldier, told the BBC: 'My client spent years asking the MoD to rectify the blanket refusals of Triples personnel and has seen many killed and harmed by the Taliban in that time. 'He is pleased that the MoD have agreed to inform everyone of the decisions in their cases and to tell the persons affected whether their cases are under review or not, but it should not have required litigation to achieve basic fairness.'
Daily Mail
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Special Forces officer 'blocked bid by Afghan troops to come to UK because they may have witnessed war crimes', court hears
A United Kingdom Special Forces officer rejected the asylum applications of 1,585 Afghan soldiers who may have witnessed war crimes committed by British troops. According to court documents, the officer rejected every bid by Afghan commandos, known as Triples, despite these troops facing reprisals by the Taliban for fighting with the British. Some of these Afghan commandos have been killed since the Islamists toppled the Western-supported government in Kabul in August 2021. Their applications were rejected in 2023 just months before a High Court inquiry into allegations of an SAS shoot to kill policy in Afghanistan began hearing evidence. The probe is looking into claims the SAS murdered 80 or more Afghan captives on night raids between 2010 and 2013. The elite British troops were accompanied by the Triples on these secretive missions. It was feared last night the unnamed Special Forces officer was attempting to ensure the Triples could not give evidence at the Royal Courts of Justice. Once in Britain, they could have been summoned to the hearings, possibly to reveal they saw UK troops conduct Extra-Judicial Killings. Last night, the former Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer, who campaigned for the Triples to come to this country, told the Mail he was 'shocked and appalled' by the evidence. He said: 'When I raised this as happening to the most senior civil servants in UK government, one in particular from UK Special Forces claimed he was 'offended' that I could make such a suggestion. 'He was either to lying to my face, as a Cabinet minister, which was serious enough, or he was so deeply incompetent he didn't know this was going on. 'I stand ready to assist any legal action against the government for what is increasingly taking on the appearance or criminal negligence that has seen some of these good men killed. 'That they were Afghan lives may not matter United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF). I can assure you they matter to me and I will not let this go.' The documents emerged as part of a judicial review into the UK government's handling of the Triples' applications to come to this country. Lawyers for the Triples have argued the blanket refusal of applications breached the UK government's Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP). The case was brought by a Triples officer who has seen former colleagues killed and tortured by the Taliban while they waited for protection under the scheme. In 2010 and 2011, when most of the alleged Extra-Judicial Killings took place, Afghan units expressed their disapproval at SAS tactics by refusing to deploy on night raids. Under guidelines imposed by the Afghan government, British units were forced to take Afghan units with them. So when they went on strike, these missions could not take place. In early 2011, the Afghan commandos also lodged a formal complaint alleging the SAS were ' assassinating innocents' on these operations. The judge-led inquiry into claims of SAS war crimes is due to publish its findings later this year. This could lead to soldiers facing a fresh criminal investigation.
