PM 'didn't order journalist rescue'
The final decision to order a controversial operation to free a kidnapped journalist in Afghanistan was not taken by Gordon Brown, his spokesman said.
The Prime Minister was consulted about the raid, in which a British paratrooper died, but only after Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth and Foreign Secretary David Miliband had given the mission the go-ahead, Downing Street said.
The Prime Minister's spokesman was commenting amid claims in Kabul that negotiators were close to freeing New York Times journalist Stephen Farrell without the need for military intervention.
Mr Farrell's Afghan interpreter, journalist Sultan Munadi, was also killed in the special forces operation.
Afghan journalists have blamed British troops for the death of Mr Munadi during the rescue operation. The Media Club of Afghanistan also criticised the soldiers for leaving his body behind while they rescued Mr Farrell, 46.
The Prime Minister's spokesman said that in hostage situations the Government's crisis committee Cobra, which is normally chaired by the Prime Minister, would recommend the operation to the relevant ministers.
But pressed by reporters if the Prime Minister personally ordered the raid, the spokesman said: "The Prime Minister was consulted, the final decision whether to go or not would have been made by the two Cabinet ministers."
The mission to free Mr Farrell has reportedly provoked anger among senior Army officers because he apparently ignored warnings from Afghan police and village elders not to venture into the Taliban-controlled area where he was taken hostage.
The journalist, who holds joint Irish and British citizenship, was snatched with Mr Munadi last Saturday as he reported on the aftermath of a Nato air strike in Kunduz in which at least 70 people were killed.
One senior Army source told the Daily Telegraph: "When you look at the number of warnings this person had, it makes you really wonder whether he was worth rescuing, whether it was worth the cost of a soldier's life."
