Good Morning Britain presenters Sean Fletcher and Charlotte Hawkins spoke with Kevin Maguire and Nana Akua about the crisis in Afghanistan
GMB’s Sean Fletcher slams UK government for failures in Pen Farthing debate
Sean Fletcher has slammed the UK government for not doing their jobs in aiding Pen Farthing’s colleagues in Afghanistan on Good Morning Britain.
On Monday morning, presenters Sean Fletcher and Charlotte Hawkins spoke with Kevin Maguire, the Daily Mirror’s Associate Editor, and broadcaster Nana Akua.
Among the stories debated was the actions of former British Royal Marine Paul “Pen” Farthing who evacuated cats and dogs from his Nowzad animal shelter in Kabul.
Staff members from the shelter have sadly been left behind in Afghanistan, however.
On Sunday, Farthing tweeted: “Arrived Heathrow with partial success of #OpArk Mixed emotions & true deep feeling of sadness for Afghan today. Heathrow Ops centre, Border Force, HARC & Air Pets were all bloody amazing. Witnessed 1st hand the compassion Heathrow is showing Afghan refugees. [prayer hands emoji, red heart emoji] #AboveAndBeyond “.
Farthing is now in isolation in Oslo, Norway while the animals have arrived in the UK following his departure from Kabul.
Paul “Pen” Farthing has evacuated cats and dogs from Afghanistan – but not without criticism
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Kevin Maguire was critical of Farthing’s prioritising of animals over human evacuations and cited similar criticism from Farthing’s fellow Royal Marine veterans.
“There is almost unanimous criticism of him for what he’s done,” noted Kevin.
Sean, however, said: “Can we just highlight that the government haven’t done their job?
“The government are meant to work with people who helped us for 20 years and they still do their job.”
Good Morning Britain Sean Fletcher defended Pen Farthing and slammed the UK government
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He added: “He’s done his job because he’s worked for his charity.”
Kevin responded: “He’s brought out his cats and dogs but he hasn’t brought out his staff.”
Charlotte noted that the “primary thing” had been to try and bring out the staff, noting the many years that many had worked with Farthing as a “Briton” in Afghanistan, including female veterinary nurses.
Charlotte Hawkins also discussed the “Operation Ark” decisions made
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Nana Akua was in agreement with Kevin but did admire Farthing’s “tenacity” and commitment to his cause.
“It’s a shame that the government couldn’t have been more like that as well,” added Nana.
Newsreader Pip Tomson noted that it was a private charter aircraft and not a military plane that took the animals out of Afghanistan, but Kevin noted that the effort and manpower that went into the flight made the criticisms of Farthing’s decisions to be valid.
The Daily Mirror’s Kevin Maguire was critical of Pen Farthing’s actions
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Sean added that the animals were not taking up seats on the planes that could have been occupied by people.
Kevin, however, noted that the effort and manpower that went into the flight made the criticisms of Farthing’s decisions to be valid.
*Good Morning Britain airs on weekday mornings from 6am to 9am on ITV with past episodes on ITV Hub.
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