The ex-Colchester student fronting Afghan rescue mission

Sir Laurie Bristow was once a pupil at Colchester Royal Grammar School, before going on to study at Cambridge's Trinity College.

He has previously worked with Prime Minister Boris Johnson during his time as Foreign Secretary.

The Old Colcestrian Society member is now the British Ambassador to Afghanistan and is fronting a rescue mission following the Taliban's takeover of Kabul.

Sir Laurie Bristow with Boris Johnson. Picture: PA

In a video posted to his official social media page, Sir Bristow said his team had already helped hundreds of people leave on military flights.

Speaking from the evacuation handling centre in Kabul, he said: "We are putting everything we can into getting British nationals and Afghans who've worked with us in the past out of Afghanistan and to safety.

"We will be trying to scale up the speed and pace over the next couple of days and we will put everything we can on this for the next few days and get out everyone we need to get to safety as soon as we can.

"We are working flat out."

We are working flat out to bring British nationals and our Afghan colleagues to safety. We’ve already helped hundreds of people to leave on military flights. pic.twitter.com/Cv3fgsE8IO

— Laurie Bristow (@laurie_bristow) August 18, 2021