-- sir philip barton._ -- sir philip barton. we don't have the power— -- sir philip barton.on. we don't have the power to hire _ -- sir philip barton. we don't have the power to hire and _ -- sir philip barton. we don't have the power to hire and fire. - -- sir philip barton. we don't have the power to hire and fire. i'm - the power to hire and fire. i'm askin: the power to hire and fire. i'm asking why — the power to hire and fire. i'm asking why you think he could still be there. . , . asking why you think he could still be there. ., , ., , ., ., be there. that is a question for the forei . n be there. that is a question for the foreign secretary. _ be there. that is a question for the foreign secretary. we've _ be there. that is a question for the | foreign secretary. we've expressed our own view and this is not my view, this is the view of the committee of 11 members of parliament. we simply said we don't have confidence in him because at the time when we were looking into what happened in trying to understand how decisions were made and yes, they were fraught and diffic

., philip barton. what is your response to that? . ., _ philip barton.o that? have to say that the secretary of state, _ to that? have to say that the secretary of state, list - to that? have to say that the | secretary of state, list trusts, should have come to the house of commons today to explain what action she is now taking in her department will stop i am very reluctant ever to blame civil servants for the situation that has taken place when clearly ministers themselves were also absolutely at the helm, or should've been at the home of this crisis. she has not come to the house, she should come to the house, what we need now is a very clear plan of action, given that we've had in our country both the foreign office and the old department for international development emerged, that merger has not gone well and, of course, we are facing a world in which there are likely to be more crisis, crisis management requires leadership, it requires planning and it requires action. that is what we now need to. it requires action. that is what we now need to-_ i

absence of a plan," and calls for the resignation of the foreign office's top civil servant, sir philip bartons chaotic and for vast numbers of afghans desperate to leave, profoundly traumatic. it was also, mps say, a betrayal of britain's allies, a catastrophic failure of intelligence, diplomacy and planning. knowing that american forces were soon going to leave, the report says the government failed to respond. well, it's clear that what we could have done really from 18 months out when the warning started is begun the really serious preparations, knowing who we needed to evacuate, planning on how we would get them out and where we would take them but instead i'm afraid that's not what happened. at a hearing last december, the foreign office's top civil servants struggled to explain why he and others, including the foreign secretary, stayed on holiday while kabulfell. i have reflected a lot since august on my leave and if i had my time again i would have come back from my leave earlier than i did. i did put in place, as i think you know, an acting permanent secretary in the normal way, but a