Whistleblower who exposed chaos of Afghanistan evacuation wins unfair dismissal case against government

A civil servant who lost her job after blowing the whistle about the UK’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan has won her case for unfair dismissal against the government.

Josie Stewart, a former senior official who had worked at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) for seven years, lost her job after giving an anonymous interview to BBC Newsnight which saw her speak about her “traumatic experiences” working in the Afghanistan Crisis Centre in summer 2021.

Following the Taliban gaining control of Afghanistan, the British government evacuated 15,000 people from Kabul in what was known as Operation Pitting.

Ms Stewart’s security clearance was revoked and she subsequently lost her job after it emerged she revealed failings in the withdrawal, as well as leaking emails suggesting that former prime minister Boris Johnson had prioritised staff from the animal charity Nowzad for evacuation over more deserving cases.

An employment panel of three judges found the FCDO unfairly dismissed Ms Stewart after she leaked information in the public interest.

In a legal first, the tribunal ruled that under whistleblower protection legislation it can be lawful for a civil servant to share unauthorised information directly with the media.

At a hearing which took place last May, counsel for the FCDO Ben Collins KC argued that the right to blow the whistle did not extend to giving security clearance to those with a record of leaking.

But Gavin Millar KC, the barrister acting for Ms Stewart, said such an argument would “drive a coach and horses through” the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, aimed at protecting whistleblowers, if it succeeded.

In submissions to the panel, Mr Millar said that Ms Stewart’s whistleblowing related to “the endangerment of the safety and lives of extremely vulnerable people in danger of retribution from the Taliban at any moment, and a government communications strategy which concealed how badly the UK government let those people down”.

A landmark judgment issued on Tuesday said: “The tribunal considered that it was reasonable for the claimant to go to the UK’s public service broadcaster when relevant information and/or allegations had already been put into the public domain … and government ministers were publicly disputing them.”

The judgment continued: “Was the claimant’s belief that she made the disclosure in the public interest a reasonable belief? The tribunal found that it was. The prime minister and foreign secretary were denying things that the claimant believed to be true, based on what she had observed in the course of her work.”

However, the panel accepted that it was unavoidable that Ms Stewart was suspended from work “while her security clearance was reviewed, as she was required to have such clearance”.

The judgment was dubbed “groundbreaking” by Ms Stewart’s solicitors, James and West, saying it was “without precedent and raised numerous important issues about civil servants’ rights to whistleblower protection under existing law”.

Ms Stewart said: “My experience of the FCDO crisis centre in August 2021 reflected the worst of our political system. By calling this out, I lost my career. The outcome of this case doesn’t change any of this, but it has achieved what I set out to achieve: it has established that civil servants have the right not to stay silent when systemic failures put lives at risk, as happened during the Afghan evacuation.

“We can’t have a system that stays silent no matter what you see, and forces dedicated public servants to choose between their conscience and their career.”

Cathy James, Ms Stewart’s solicitor, added: “Today, the employment tribunal has vindicated my client’s actions and upheld her rights. This is an important win not just for Ms Stewart but for civil servants, the public interest, and democracy.”

An FCDO spokesperson said: “We will review the findings of the tribunal and consider next steps.”