Maria Miller MP under fire for defending Dominic Raab

Dominic Raab is under pressure to step down from the coveted role after it emerged he had been on holiday at a luxury resort in Crete as the Taliban marched on Kabul over the weekend.

Mrs Miller has attracted criticism for describing the commentary around Mr Raab’s handling of the Afghanistan crisis as a ‘highly personal attack’.

As previously reported, Mr Raab was on the beach when the foreign office was facing calls to act to save translators’ lives.

Referencing the criticism of Mr Raab, who has also been accused of staging a photograph of him being on the phone, Mrs Miller wrote: “This is not the time for this sort of high[ly] personal attack.

“What the people of Afghanistan need is the international community to come together to develop a long-term strategy for Afghanistan which is what Dominic Raab is going.”

Dominic Raab is accused of posing for a "risible photo stunt"

But while Mrs Miller may be keen to lend her backing to Mr Raab, she came under fire from those on social media.

Replying to Mrs Miller, Wendy Kendall wrote: “It is not a ‘personal attack’ to be held accountable for not doing your job when thousands of lives are on the line. How about you do better too while you’re at it. Hold these chances to account for once in your life.”

While Kate Nicholls added: “Critiquing someone for doing their job badly is not a ‘personal attack’. It is a valid, value judgement based on clear evidence.”

And Twitter user Abster wrote: “If I refused to leave my break to help a patient who had collapsed, I’d be hauled before HR for a disciplinary. It wouldn’t be a personal attack, it would be based on policy, procedure and professional standards.

“However it would say something about my moral character.”

Maria Miller has jumped to Dominic Raab's defence

Meanwhile, Labour warned there had been an “unforgivable failure of leadership” by the Government as the party calls for Mr Raab to step down.

It has set out a list of 18 urgent questions for the Foreign Secretary to answer about his trip and his department’s handling of the crisis.

Mr Raab, who rejected calls to resign on Thursday, was reportedly “unavailable” when officials in his department suggested he “urgently” call Afghan foreign minister Hanif Atmar on August 13 – two days before the Taliban marched on Kabul – to arrange help for those who supported British troops.

It was reported on Thursday that the Afghan foreign ministry refused to arrange a call with a junior minister, pushing it back to the next day.

It has since emerged that a call never took place.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesman said: “Given the rapidly changing situation it was not possible to arrange a call before the Afghan government collapsed.”

The Times reported that Sir Philip Barton, Matthew Rycroft and David Williams, the respective permanent secretaries of the Foreign Office, Home Office and Ministry of Defence, were on holiday amid the evacuations from Afghanistan.

It is understood that the senior officials continued to work on Afghanistan while on leave, with the Whitehall departments running systems where there is another minister or an acting permanent secretary to cover periods of leave.

A Government spokesman said: “Departments across Whitehall have been working intensively at all levels in the last few days and weeks on the situation in Afghanistan.

“Thanks to these efforts, we have relocated over 2,000 Afghans to the UK since June, evacuated over 400 British nationals and their families on RAF flights since Sunday and established one of the most generous asylum schemes in British history.”

Labour said it is requesting specifics on when Mr Raab was out of the country and on leave from official duties, if he received advice from officials on the advisability of leaving as the situation in Afghanistan deteriorated, if he attended a Cobra meeting on August 15, and if other ministers were authorised to approve those intelligence operations designated urgent in his absence.

The party also questioned the Prime Minister’s involvement, asking Mr Raab if he spoke with Mr Johnson while he was away, and if the PM gave permission for him to leave the country.