Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Cabinet Minister Matt Hancock have defended Home Secretary Priti Patel over bullying allegations by senior official Sir Philip Rutnam, who resigned on Saturday and said that he would sue for 'constructive dismissal'. Mr Hancock told the BBC that “Priti is robust and determined and that is what you would expect in a Home Secretary.
“I’ve never seen her be anything other than courteous and professional in all the work that I’ve done with her.” But when asked if he thought she would be cleared in the investigation launched by the Cabinet Office, he added that there's a process and he was not going to prejudice that.
In Ms Patel's defence, former international Trade Secretary Liam Fox tweeted, “I have worked with [Ms Patel] for almost 20 years. In that time I have always known her to be courteous, diligent and fair.”
The BBC also reported that a former aide received a £25,000 government pay out after a threatened lawsuit in which the then employment minister Ms Patel was named. Legal correspondence alleges that the woman took an overdose of prescription medicine following the alleged incident in 2015.
Labour MPs have therefore called for Ms Patel to step down as the Home Secretary while bullying allegations are investigated. Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott told BBC’s Radio 4 Today, “We want a genuinely independent inquiry... to restore confidence in the respect that the Government has for civil servants.”
However amidst the controversy of Sir Peter Rutnam, a recent report also claimed that she had tried to have her Director of Communications removed from the job before Christmas. According to The HuffPost, Priti Patel had asked for Andy Tighe, the head of news at the Home Office, to be moved out of the department last year, and he decided to take retirement.
Ms Patel also wanted Philip Rutnam, the department’s Permanent Secretary, to sack Tighe on Christmas Eve and he refused, which led to some of the tensions between the duo. However, the Home Office did not deny the claim that Ms Patel asked for Tighe to be sacked on Christmas Eve, nor that she had wanted him to leave.
The row originally blew up when it was claimed that Ms Patel had tried to get rid of Sir Rutnam after he raised complaints about her alleged bullying and belittling of staff. It then further escalated with claims that MI5 had restricted Ms Patel’s access to security information because it did not trust her. Both the intelligence agency and Home Secretary had strongly denied these rumours. The department has said there have been no formal complaints about Ms Patel’s behaviour.
A Home Office spokesperson said, “The home secretary and permanent secretary are deeply concerned about the number of false allegations appearing in the media. They are focused on delivering on the Home Office’s hugely important agenda, which includes creating an immigration system that works for the UK, putting more police on the streets and keeping the public safe from terrorism.”
