THE most senior civil servants at the Foreign Office shared a bonus pot of almost £100,000 for good performance in 2021 – despite the bungled withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Eleven top officials were awarded performance-related payments of up to £5,000 or £10,000 each in the face of “deep failures” at the department that year.
The Foreign Office came under heavy criticism after appearing to be caught off guard by the Taliban’s surge on Kabul in August 2021.
Eventually the Ministry of Defence had to draft in troops to help the botched evacuation of diplomats and 15,000 people from the Afghan capital in just a fortnight.
The department itself admitted a slew of failures during the operation, saying there were “many shortcomings” and the evacuation scheme was “far from perfect”.
But Whitehall accounts published today reveal up to £95,000 in salary top ups for 2021/22 for some senior staff covering that period.
Thomas Drew – who was at the time Director General, Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan – received a bonus of up to £10,000.
He was also promoted to Director General, Defence and Intelligence.
The FCDO publicly admitted last year that there were “staffing gaps in some teams for some periods” of the operation and “the impact of the crisis on staff welfare was significant”.
But Mervyn Thomas the "Chief People Officer" – or head of HR – received a bonus of up to £5,000.
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A Commons inquiry into the matter concluded there were “deep failures” at the FCDO during the period with Afghan allies and British soldiers “utterly let down by deep failures of leadership”.
The Foreign Affairs Select Committee accused top officials and ministers at the department of an “appalling mismanagement of the crisis”.
The exact bonus figures have not been published, rather a range between £0-£5,000 or £5,000-£10,000 totalling up to £95,000.
John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, hit out: “Taxpayers will be fuming with these bonuses for bungling.
“Hard pressed households expect frugality from government, not rewards for failure."
The FCDO have been approached for comment.
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