Home secretary has been accused of avoiding scrutiny over accusations of bullying after several officials at different government departments insisted working in an “atmosphere of fear”.
On 8th April, Yvette Cooper, the chair of the home affairs select committee, has written to Patel six times in an attempt to fix a date for Patel to present evidence in public to the committee in relation to these bullying claims.
After repeatedly ignoring correspondence from Cooper, Patel replied to the committee chair on 7th April, Tuesday where Patel highlighted being “disappointed at the increasingly adversarial tone of our exchanges”. Patel declined an invitation to give evidence remotely on 15 April however, she has reluctantly agreed to appear before the MPs at the end of the month.
Cooper, in her latest missive, points out that the justice secretary, work and pensions secretary, transport secretary and health secretary have given evidence to their select committees already or have agreed a date to do so.
The committee has been pressing Patel to provide evidence since the end of January, during which time the secretary of state has been accused of belittling officials and presiding over an “atmosphere of fear” at the Home Office. Sir Philip Rutnam had resigned as permanent secretary at the Home Office, claiming constructive dismissal and accusing Patel of bullying her subordinates.
On Wednesday Cooper said, “Delaying until the end of the month would clearly be inappropriate given the urgency of the public information and answers that are needed.”
