Good Morning Britain guest Dominic Dyer fought back tears as he recounted his involvement in the evacuation of animals and staff from an Afghanistan charity on Friday’s show.
The animal welfare campaigner told presenters Kate Garraway and Ben Shephard that the controversial evacuation of 173 dogs and cats has been turned into a “political football”.
This comes as Boris Johnson has been accused of lying to the public about whether the Government stepped in to help Paul 'Pen' Farthing and members of his Nowzad charity flee Afghanistan after it fell to the Taliban last year.
The Government was accused of putting animals before people after Mr Farthing was able to evacuate animals from the troubled country in August using a plane funded by donations from a high profile campaign.
As Dominic, friend of Pen Farthing, recounted the events leading up the evacuation and in the aftermath, he fought back tears, saying: “What tarnishes the reputation of Pen Farthing - an amazing courageous man - over 65 men, women and children came out of that country that would have been left. The dogs and cats came out and have been rehomed.
“To me that’s the most important aspect. This has been turned into a political football.”
He added that he and Pen have been “called racists” because they “put animals above brown people”.
He said: “This is disgusting and horrible. We dedicated our time to get people out of there.”
Dominic Dyer said Boris Johnson supported in getting the animals airlifted out of Afghanistan, despite his denials of involvement, adding that he was “grateful” the Prime Minister “took control” of the situation amid a tug of war with Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.
Dominic said: “[Johnson] came into a situation that was falling apart, with a Secretary of State that was out in the studios trying to tear apart an operation that a huge amount of work had been going on.
“At 1.50 in the morning Ben Wallace put out a statement saying Pen could take his people to the airport, could take the animals and they would get access to the airport to leave.
“That was a complete change of position in 24 hours from what he said earlier. The only person that could have made him do that is the Prime Minister.”
Dominic praised friend Pen Farthing, calling him an “inspiration” as he said they have rescued 150 men, women and children from Afghanistan.
He concluded: “I’m not going to be condemned and I don’t want to see anyone condemn him for what’s gone on here. This is not pets before people. It's about rescuing people in desperate need.”
In the studio Kate replied: “You have made your case so clear and we can see how much it hurts you and how passionate you are about it.”
