Q: Was Craig Murray sacked or did he resign?

A: Both. Craig Murray was sacked from his post as British Ambassador to Uzbekistan in October 2004, but remained on the Foreign Office Payroll. He resigned from the Foreign Office in February 2005.

Q: Why was Craig Murray sacked from his post as British Ambassador to Uzbekistan in October 2004?

A: According to the Foreign Office, Craig was removed from his post for “operational reasons”. This followed the leak of a secret memo Craig had written, in which he raised serious doubts about the wisdom of US and British policy in Uzbekistan. When these doubts became public, it was deemed that Craig could no longer work effectively in his post, and he was removed.

Q: Was Craig behind the leak which led to his sacking?

A: No. We do not know who was behind the leak, or what their motivation was.

Q: Is it true that Craig Murray was under investigation for gross misconduct at the time of his sacking?

A: No. Craig was sacked from his post in Uzbekistan on October 15th 2004 for “operational reasons”, although he remained on the Foreign Office payroll. Shortly afterwards, he gave a number of interviews to the media, speaking out about human rights abuse in Uzbekistan and criticising the decision to withdraw him. The Foreign Office then charged him with gross misconduct on October 21st 2004 because of what he had said to the media. Ten months earlier, the Foreign Office had been forced to withdraw 18 other bogus disciplinary disciplinary charges (see our timeline for more details of these).

Q: Why did Craig resign from the Foreign Office?

A: Craig resigned from the Foreign Office over Western support for the brutal dictatorship in Uzbekistan.

Click here for a full timeline of Craig Murray’s posting to Uzbekistan