Top civil servant tried to persuade ex-defence secretary not to commission inquiry into UK military actions in Afghanistan

Former defence secretary Ben Wallace was advised by his permanent secretary that a public inquiry into allegations of SAS executions in Afghanistan would be “expensive, unproductive and extremely bad” for the reputation of the British military.

Sir Stephen Lovegrove tried to persuade Wallace not to commission formal hearings in August 2020, fearing the Ministry of Defence (MoD) would be embarrassed if soldiers and key figures said they could not remember what had happened.