Tobias Ellwood was lambasted in the Commons today over a ‘propaganda video’ from a trip to Afghanistan – and could now face being ousted as chair of the Defence Committee.
Committee member Mark Francois raised the extraordinary footage, posted by his fellow Tory MP on social media, at PMQs.
The former minister branded the video, praising the ‘vastly improved’ security situation under the Taliban and calling for diplomatic ties to be restored, ‘naive’.
‘This was not in our name,’ Mr Francois said.
Sources on the committee told MailOnline that Mr Ellwood had been a ‘f***ing idiot’ and members were ‘looking at the procedure’ for removing him from the £20,000-a-year post.
‘He is going to have to resign or we will vote him off,’ they said.
Mr Ellwood’s praise of the Afghan regime came as footage showed Taliban forces using water cannons on a group of women who were protesting their subjugation.
Downing Street also delivered a veiled rebuke, saying the government had no intention of changing policy toward the Taliban.
Mr Ellwood is currently on a trip to India with some of the committee.
Angry colleagues believe there is no way of ousting him before the summer recess, and are instead planning to move when the House returns in September.
Since seizing power in 2021, the Taliban has barred women from most areas of public life and work.
Girls are banned from attending school beyond the sixth grade, and women can no longer work at local and non-governmental organisations.
In June, the Taliban carried out what is believed to be its second public execution since it returned to power.
The first was last December, when a man convicted of murdering another man was executed with an assault rifle by the victim’s father in front of hundreds of spectators.
The video from the trip to Afghanistan shows the former defence minister saying it is time to restore diplomatic relations with extremists who killed hundreds of British troops and have banned girls from attending school and stopped women from working.
Mr Ellwood’s apparent praise of the Taliban also came as the country’s forces used fire hoses, tasers and shot their guns into the air to break up a peaceful protest held by dozens of women after the regime ordered the closure of beauty salons nationwide.
Some protesters said they were shot at with stun guns.
The video, in which Mr Ellwood commended the Taliban for the ‘vastly improved’ security situation, was retweeted approvingly by the Afghan government’s spokesman yesterday.
Mr Ellwood, a former soldier, used the two-minute video to urge the Government to ‘re-engage’ with the Taliban saying that Afghanistan was enjoying ‘calm’ since the fall of Kabul.
He said the visit with mine-clearing charity the Halo Trust had convinced him that the UK should be reopening its embassy.
‘Shouting from afar will not improve women’s rights. We need to re-engage. We need to re-open the British Embassy,’ he said.
MPs said he had effectively produced a ‘wish you were here’ film.
However, Mr Ellwood did receive some backing. Fellow Tory MP Bob Seely, who served in Afghanistan, told MailOnline: ‘Tobias is being brave, intelligent and credible to make this argument and to visit Afghanistan.
‘I thank him for doing so. Just because it is painful to hear, it doesn’t mean it’s not true and at least it’s an important opinion that needs to be heard.’
Mr Ellwood posted his video to Twitter on the same day that EU published its most recent report on the human rights situation in Afghanistan, detailing how the Taliban have further increased restrictions on women and girls in recent months.
The Taliban’s Ministry of Public Health has announced that only males will be allowed to take exams to pursue specialised medical studies, the UN mission in Afghanistan said in the report, which covers developments in May and June.
That follows a ban on female medical students taking graduation exams announced in February and a prohibition on women attending universities issued last December, the report said.
