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Officials have been accused of trying to “cover up” the cost of Boris Johnson’s trip to Afghanistan the day of a controversial vote.

The former foreign secretary blew more than £20,000 of taxpayer’s cash on a visit to Kabul, which allowed him to miss a crunch vote on Heathrow expansion in June last year.

Officials blamed an “IT issue” after details of the embarrassing trip were slipped out to a member of the public, while journalists’ requests were delayed.

And following a six month battle, the Foreign Office was forced to admit they had internally identified requests from “known journalists”, breaking Freedom of Information (FOI) rules.

And officials refused to reveal details of the ‘IT issue’ due to “national security” concerns.

FOI expert Matt Burgess said: “It's outrageous, the law is meant to be applicant and motive blind.

“This seems like a cover-up where the government is trying to hide information from journalists because they want an easier ride.”

(Image: @mfa_afghanistan/Twitter)

He added: “Everyone should get the same responses to FOI requests, no matter who they are.”

Shameless Mr Johnson travelled to Kabul on an last-minute visit on the same day he would have been forced to vote in favour of Heathrow expansion to keep his job.

Mr Johnson once claimed he would lie down in front of the bulldozers to stop the £14bn plan for a third runway.

Details of the trip were quietly disclosed to a member of the public in response to an FOI request.

But they were not revealed to the Mirror and at least one other publication until a complaint was lodged, days later.

The Foreign Office last night denied that it had deliberately held back the information from the media, or treated members of the press differently to members of the public.

But in emails dealing with the request, one official told colleagues: “I’m happy to clear these but can you provide a list of who they are from?”

(Image: @mfa_afghanistan/Twitter)

Another email confirmed an official had “provided details of any known journalists.”

The Information Commissioner’s guidance bans public bodies from differentiating journalists from members of the public when dealing with FOI requests.

It’s understood the Foreign Office did suffer an IT problem on the day the data was originally disclosed.

But officials have been unable to explain why it affected some applicants and not others.

And the department refused to make details of the IT problem public, saying it would be a threat to national security.

A further request, for details of how the case had been managed by the Foreign Office, was delayed six time beyond its 20 working day time limit.

Eventually the department revealed some of the information a full 100 working days late, without providing any explanation.

An FCO spokesperson said: “We take our transparency obligations very seriously and fully comply with Freedom of Information law.”