Former minister denies 'lacking curiosity' over British soldiers' Afghanistan murder allegations

Former defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace has denied he lacked curiosity when allegations of war crimes by British soldiers were brought to him.

Sir Ben was giving testimony at the Independent Inquiry Relating to Afghanistan after evidence from an earlier witness accused him of not doing enough to investigate unlawful killings by UK Special Forces there.

The inquiry is investigating claims made in a BBC Panorama programme that innocent Afghan civilians were executed by three out of four SAS squadrons between 2010 and 2013 - before Sir Ben took responsibility for the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Evidence submitted to the inquiry suggests as many as 80 people were killed this way during a campaign of night raids.

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A memo dated 24 October 2019 from director of judicial engagement policy Peter Ryan, a senior MoD lawyer, suggested to the then defence secretary Sir Ben that the accounts raised by Panorama were "broadly accurate", and the BBC team had documents that could substantiate the allegations.

That memo was sent eight days after an investigation into the alleged offences was concluded by the Royal Military Police having apparently exhausted all leads.

In February, former veterans minister Johnny Mercer claimed Sir Ben, Mr Ryan, and chief of defence staff Nick Carter showed a "lack of professional curiosity to get to the bottom of it" after the fresh evidence came to light of war crime allegations.

Mr Mercer claimed they had assured him the allegations were untrue, he told the inquiry.

But he said he became concerned about why senior figures within the MoD could not provide evidence to disprove the allegations.

Giving evidence as the inquiry sat at the Royal Courts of Justice on Monday, Sir Ben was asked whether, when he received the new memo, he had renewed efforts to investigate the Panorama claims, to which the former defence chief admitted he had "presumed" the claims had been dealt with.

Sir Ben vehemently denied not being curious or inquisitive, failing to investigate the claims thoroughly, and allegations that the MoD covered up crimes under his tenure.

"I established this inquiry in order so we get to the bottom of this," he said. "Hardly the narrative of cover-up for this secretary of state to have set up this inquiry."