border and by 03:00 Kuwaiti time were fully informed that an invasion had taken place and fighting had ensued. This awareness would have been at least an hour before BA149 touched down, during which several other flights had diverted to Bahrain or other alternative destinations to avoid a potential situation. During October 1992, Prime Minister John Major, who had taken over from predecessor Margaret Thatcher, denied any attempt to influence British Airways in regard to the decision to operate BA 149; however, this has been contradicted by sworn statements that British Airways had in fact been briefed by the British government and informed by them that it had been 'safe to fly'. It has been alleged that the British government had allowed Flight 149 to proceed for intelligence-gathering purposes by transporting British operatives to Kuwait. On 2 October 1992, in response to a question on the issue, Major said "I can confirm, however, that there were no British military personnel on board the flight". However, the 2007 documentary included an interview with an anonymous former SAS soldier, who claimed that he and his team had been on Flight 149 for the purposes of intelligence gathering in Kuwait. In 2007, British Member of Parliament Norman Baker claimed to be in possession of affidavits signed by "members of special forces," which, according to Baker, said "that they were on that plane and were put there to carry out a mission at the request of the British Government". Baker claimed that external accounts had given corroboration to such statements, including from the then-United States Ambassador to Kuwait W. Nathaniel Howell, former member of MI6 Richard Tomlinson, and individuals claiming to be Central Intelligence Agency operatives at the time. Some media sources commented on the fact that British Airways allegedly withdrew the computer database list containing the passenger manifest for Flight 149 the day after the aircraft was captured; however, British Airways have maintained that this is a standard procedure in the event of an emergency in order to protect the identities of people on board and so that next of kin can be notified. On 23 November 2021, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss confirmed that the government of that time had misled British Airways and the public about a prior warning that was not passed on to the airline. See also Aviation accidents and incidents Black Box 149 References External links BBC News- "BA