‘Red tape’ putting ex-British Council staff in Afghanistan at risk, say MPs

Exclusive: Foreign secretary urged to speed up efforts to help former staff and their families get to UK

Ministers are putting endangered British Council staff and their families in Afghanistan at risk because of a blockage of red tape" preventing them from coming to the UK, a cross-party group of dozens of MPs and peers says.

John Baron, a senior Conservative backbencher, pioneered the cross-party call for the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, to ensure the country repays the debt of gratitude and honour" he believed was owed to the roughly 200 people and their immediate relatives.