LONDON: The UK government has blocked the appointment of a former general implicated in a cover-up of SAS war crimes in Afghanistan from becoming the country’s national security adviser, a role that would have made him one of the top aides to the prime minister.
Gen. Gwyn Jenkins was appointed by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in April, shortly before the general election in July at which his ruling Conservative Party was defeated by the Labour Party in a landslide.
Now Sunak’s successor, Labour leader Keir Starmer, has canceled the appointment of Jenkins, a former deputy head of the armed forces, The Times newspaper reported. Starmer previously blocked the incumbent national security adviser, Sir Tim Barrow, from becoming the UK’s ambassador to the US, another appointment made by Sunak.
When Jenkins was appointed in April, he faced questions about how much he knew about summary executions carried out by members of Britain’s elite special forces during the war in Afghanistan. The SAS was implicated in a “pattern of extra-judicial killings” during the war, a high-level public inquiry found.
Richard Hermer KC represented the families of Afghan victims at the inquiry and is now the government’s chief legal adviser. During that inquiry, Hermer in his opening statement referred to Jenkins anonymously as “N1785.” The general’s identity was not known publicly until it was revealed by a BBC “Panorama” documentary last year.
During the inquiry, Hermer said “N1785” had failed to alert military police to the killings, and questioned why senior military officers allowed evidence of war crimes to be “buried in a safe for a number of years.”
Speaking during a news conference at Downing Street, Starmer said there would be an “open and transparent process” for the appointment of a new national security adviser. However, he refused to “publicly discuss individual appointments.”
Although Starmer has canceled the appointment of Jenkins by Sunak, the general is free to reapply for the position should he wish.
