Harrison’s letter, which emerged on Tuesday night , was dated 25 August and signed by her in her capacity as MP for Copeland in Cumbria and as “parliamentary private secretary to the prime minister”.It spelled out that the Foreign Office, Home Office and the Ministry of Defence – which had made last-minute objections – had cleared the way for Farthing and staff at his Nowzad charity to be evacuated from Kabul’s airport.

Pen Farthing refused to leave the country without his rescue dogs (Picture: Getty Images/PA)A former Royal Marine who founded an animal shelter in Kabul has made it through the airport’s security with his dogs and is awaiting an evacuation flight.

The former Royal Marine and his supporters had been campaigning to get his staff from the Nowzad charity shelter as well as their families, 140 dogs and 60 cats evacuated from the country in a plan he named Operation Ark. In a tweet posted on Friday evening, the MoD said: “Pen Farthing and his pets were assisted through the system at Kabul airport by the UK armed forces.

Charlotte Maxwell-Jones has been working for months to evacuate the many animals her charity, Kabul Small Animal Rescue, have saved in Afghanistan, but it’s the safety of her 40 workers that she’s most concerned about at the moment.

Pen Farthing was told he would have to leave the animals in the country as people are being prioritised (Picture: AP)An animal rescue charity may be able to fly hundreds of cats and dogs out of Afghanistan after all following a change in tone by the defence secretary.

Animal welfare activist Dominic Dyer started the campaign, and said he has been in touch with Mr Farthing after his wife tried to leave Kabul.