On Thursday 16th July, it was reported that a senior civil servant in charge of the bullying inquiry into the home secretary, is slated to leave her post next month.
Helen MacNamara’s new role as a permanent secretary has led critics to claim that the government is facilitating Priti Patel to be cleared of multiple bullying allegations.
These allegations appeared following reports of tensions between Patel and her staff across three government departments. Furthermore, Philip Rutnam quit as Home Office’s permanent secretary and Simon Donald announced his early retirement as permanent secretary at Foreign Office.
Patel has consistently denied all allegations. But, Rutnam is suing her after accusing her of lying and of bullying the staff.
The inquiry was first headed by cabinet secretary Mark Sedwill and is now being led by MacNamara. As part of her inquiry, MacNamara interviewed former staff from the Department for Work and Pensions, where Patel worked as an employment minister in 2015, and the Department for International Development where Patel was secretary of state in 2017. She also interviewed staff from the Home Office while investigating bullying claims from Rutnam, who resigned as permanent secretary earlier this year.
Johnson authorised the inquiry four months ago, and insisted at the time that Patel would be exonerated. Leaks from Whitehall have since claimed that Patel was about to be cleared, but it has not yet been released.
According to the Financial Times the findings of the inquiry were being held back because its “robust criticisms” of Patel could be embarrassing.
