Minister says he was angry with Ben Wallace over Afghanistan claims

Johnny Mercer tells inquiry his time working under then defence secretary was ‘very difficult’

A minister has told an inquiry that he was angry with the former defence secretary Ben Wallace after discovering that UK special forces officers knew about Afghanistan death squad allegations before he described them as untrue in the House of Commons.

Johnny Mercer wrote to Wallace in August 2020 shortly after emails surfaced in the Sunday Times that showed senior special forces officers expressed serious concerns about the killings of 33 people in 11 night raids in the war-torn nation in 2011.