James Cleverly corrected a written answer on Western Sahara: Armed Forces

28 September 2021 · Commons written answer · Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Alex Sobel (Labour, Leeds North West) asked written question 50133 on 15 September 2021. Amanda Milling answered on 20 September 2021 for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and James Cleverly corrected the answer on 28 September 2021. The corrected text no longer gives the figures 15,000, 5,000, 500, 8,000. Altogether 137 words differ between the two versions.

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 21 January 2021 to Question 142052; Western Sahara: armed forces how many Moroccan soldiers are based (a) along the berm and (b) elsewhere in Western Sahara.

Original and corrected answer

Struck through: original only. Bold: correction only.

Original	Corrected
~~Since 15 August,~~ the ~~UK has evacuated over 15,000 people from Afghanistan including 30 charter flights. That includes: over 8,000 British Nationals, close to 5,000 Afghans who loyally served~~ the ~~UK, along with their dependents, and around 500 special cases~~ of particularly vulnerable Afghans, including Chevening scholars, academics, researchers, journalists, human rights defenders, campaigners for women's rights, judges and many others. Rapid Deployment Teams have been sent to Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to reinforce our Embassy staff to process arrivals from Afghanistan. Teams have also deployed to Qatar and UAE to assist our operations there and we are providing consular support to British nationals who were evacuated by other allies, including via US airbases in Europe.	According to the UN, Morocco maintains a significant security presence in Western Sahara, primarily in fortified positions along a berm running the entire length of the territory.

Original

Corrected

~~Since 15 August,~~ the ~~UK has evacuated over 15,000 people from Afghanistan including 30 charter flights. That includes: over 8,000 British Nationals, close to 5,000 Afghans who loyally served~~ the ~~UK, along with their dependents, and around 500 special cases~~ of particularly vulnerable Afghans, including Chevening scholars, academics, researchers, journalists, human rights defenders, campaigners for women's rights, judges and many others.
Rapid Deployment Teams have been sent to Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to reinforce our Embassy staff to process arrivals from Afghanistan. Teams have also deployed to Qatar and UAE to assist our operations there and we are providing consular support to British nationals who were evacuated by other allies, including via US airbases in Europe.

According to the UN, Morocco maintains a significant security presence in Western Sahara, primarily in fortified positions along a berm running the entire length of the territory.

The question and answer on the Parliament website.

More on James Cleverly and Amanda Milling.

Receipt

Read from	https://questions-statements-api.parliament.uk/api/writtenquestions/questions/1355770?expandMember=true
Date read	15 October 2026
SHA-256	`396b96402ff5cbeaa59fff756c2df5ca3898630b162d2c2783b9da6f4247369d`