Daily Mail - 05.03.2020

QQQ Daily Mail, Thursday, March 5, 2020

Johnson: I’ll stick by Priti

P

riti Patel was once asked

whether she thought she

was widely liked by the civil

servants who worked for

her. ‘Probably not,’ she

replied. ‘But you don’t go to work

to be liked and be popular. You

go to work to be effective and to

change things.’

Given recent events, that attitude

is probably for the best. Because one

thing few people dispute is that the

Home Secretary seems to be almost

universally disliked in Whitehall.

in this rarefied world, Patel is widely

regarded as – if you believe her critics – a

‘vicious’ bully with a reputation for ‘rude

and dismissive’ behaviour. Sometimes,

she has been known to shout or even –

shock, horror! – swear at staff.

When she was sacked from the Depart-

ment for international Development in

2017, civil servants there reportedly

responded with an impromptu rendition

of Ding, Dong! the Witch is Dead!

in one deeply hostile briefing this

week, she was dubbed a ‘vile, pushy, hor-

rid thicko’. Defenders insist that she’s

the victim of a misogynistic vendetta

orchestrated by aloof and snobbish

Oxbridge mandarins who dislike taking

orders from a sharp-elbowed newsa-

gent’s daughter.

Wherever the truth lies – and a formal

inquiry will attempt to shed some light

on this question – this increasingly messy

political row exposes a deeper fault-line

between Boris Johnson’s newly elected

administration and the civil service.

‘Put simply, this is the first time for

decades that we’ve had a radical Gov-

ernment, which boasts a strong major-

ity,’ is how one Whitehall insider puts it.

‘Mandarins have grown used to coali-

tion, or minority, administrations, where

ministers ask civil servants what might

be achieved and proceed accordingly.

‘Now they have to deal with an embold-

ened Government which has a clear

agenda, is determined to pursue it, so is

telling civil servants what to do.’

M

aNY tories believe that to sack

Patel now would send a clear

s i g n a l t h a t a n u n e l e c t e d

bureaucracy, rather than Boris

Johnson’s Government, is what really

controls Britain’s levers of power.

‘in effect it would mean surrendering

to what Dominic Cummings and others

call the ‘‘blob’’,’ says one senior party

source. ‘that’s why it can’t and must not

be allowed to happen.’

against this backdrop, simmering ten-

sions about what one might call Patel’s

‘bedside manner’ were made public on

Saturday with the resignation of Sir

Philip rutnam, the ministry’s permanent

secretary, who accused her of orchestrat-

ing a ‘vicious’ campaign against him.

in a dramatic press conference, Sir

Philip accused the 47-year-old mother of

one of not only briefing against him but

‘shouting and swearing’ at staff, ‘belit-

tling people’, and ‘making unreasonable

and repeated demands’. He said Patel

had ‘created fear’ and ‘needed some

bravery to call out’, and revealed that he

intends to sue the Government for con-

PM declares full confidence in

embattled Home Secretary

as ANOTHER bullying claim

emerges and inquiry looms

The most senior official at the Home

Office, Sir Philip Rutnam, resigned,

accusing Priti Patel of ‘bullying’ and

‘belittling’ staff while Home

Secretary. Several are said to have

been moved on as a result of clashing

with her, according to The Times.

Mrs Patel allegedly bullied a senior

civil servant out of his job while in

charge of the Department for

International Development during

2016-17. He signed off with a stress-

related illness, it was reported.

Two permanent secretaries in the

department were allegedly informed

of bullying complaints against her.

A member of staff at DfID accused

Mrs Patel of belittling him by cutting

him out of email chains.

In 2015, a former aide took an

overdose after allegedly being bullied

by Mrs Patel while at the Department

for Work and Pensions. She received

a £25,000 payout.

Mrs Patel has been accused of

throwing a folder of papers in a civil

servant’s face during a tense meeting

at the DWP in 2016.

She denies all of these claims.

÷ ÷ ÷ ÷ ÷ ÷

By Guy

Adams

BOriS Johnson vowed to ‘stick
by’ Priti Patel over bullying allega-

tions yesterday even as a fresh
claim emerged that she threw a

folder at an official during a row.
the Prime Minister told MPs he had
full confidence in the embattled Home
Secretary despite launching a Cabinet
Office inquiry this week into claims
that she bullied staff.
But his vote of confidence came as a
Whitehall source told the Mail that Mrs
Patel had thrown a folder at an official,
hitting him in the face during a meeting in
2 016. the fresh claim, which was denied by
allies of Mrs Patel last night, dates from
her time as employment minister.
a Whitehall source said: ‘She was being
briefed by officials for an event and there
was a page missing and she got annoyed.
at the end of the briefing, she threw the
folder at him and it hit him in the face.
‘it was so aggressive. She didn’t apolo-
gise. it was just like when alex Ferguson
chucked the boot at Beckham.’
a spokesman for Mrs Patel said the claim
was ‘categorically false’.
Former work and pensions secretary iain
Duncan Smith, who was Mrs Patel’s boss
at the time, also denied the claim, saying:
‘if someone threw a file at you, you would
report it, wouldn’t you? there wasn’t a
complaint.’ But the allegation is the latest
in a series of bullying claims levelled
against the Home Secretary in recent days

• all of which she has denied.
  in a bombshell resignation statement at

ment told the Mail yesterday
she had ‘harassed’ her private
secretary to the point where he
was eventually signed off sick
with a stress-related condition
and asked for a transfer to
another department.
But, in a sign of the difficulty
the Cabinet Office is likely to
face in investigating the claims
against Mrs Patel, another
former DfiD official flatly denied
the claim she had bullied her
private secretary.
the source said: ‘Priti wanted
to get a new private secretary,
which is not uncommon for a
new minister. it was handled a
bit awkwardly but it all ended
amicably. the claim she was bul-
lying him is just not true and is
being put about maliciously.’
a former minister who served
with Mrs Patel urged the Prime
Minister to sack her.
they said: ‘there hasn’t been a

single government department

in which she has worked where

there haven’t been complaints

about her conduct, whether it

was the treasury, the Depart-

ment for Work and Pensions,

DfiD or now the Home Office.

‘She is not fit to be a minister

and it is a reflection on Boris’s

judgment that he ever put her in

the Home Office.’

in the Commons yes-

terday, the Prime Minis-

ter gave Mrs Patel his

full backing.

Speaking during Prime

Minister’s Questions,

with Mrs Patel sat along-

side him, he said: ‘the

Home Secretary is doing

an outstanding job –

delivering change,

putting police

on the streets,

cutting crime

and delivering a new immigra-

tion system – and i’m sticking

by her.’

Labour called for an independ-

ent inquiry into Mrs Patel’s

conduct, and said that it had

r e c e i v e d f r e s h a l l e g a t i o n s

against her from officials who

served with her in various gov-

ernment departments. Party

leader Jeremy Corbyn said

that Mr Johnson had ‘no

shame in defending bully-

ing’ in his Government.

B u t D o w n i n g S t r e e t

insisted that the Cabinet

Office inquiry, which will

r e p o r t t o M r J o h n s o n ,

would be ‘robust’ and would

be able to look at all alle-

gations made against

Mrs Patel. it is thought that Mrs

Patel will be interviewed by sen-

ior officials about the claims in

the coming days.

Her allies have claimed that

‘dark forces’ are trying to remove

her. Mr Duncan Smith said dis-

gruntled officials were ‘in league’

with each other and elements of

the media as part of an effort to

damage the Government.

‘Some of the civil service are

using Priti Patel to take on the

Government,’ he said.

‘they’re using Priti to weaken

Downing Street’s resolve. if

Downing Street backs down,

some in the civil service will say

they have won, and no one will

say boo to them again.

‘it’s complete nonsense from

start to end. i’ve worked with

her and yes, she’s tough, she’s

strident. But she’s trying to get

a job done.’

By Claire Ellicott

and Jason Groves

Now a ‘thrown

folder’ adds to

the accusations

Page 12

Accused:

Priti

Patel at

Downing

Street

mailplus.co.uk/briefings

WATCH MORE AT

WATCH MORE AT

mailplus.co.uk/briefings

the weekend, the Home Office’s former
top civil servant Sir Philip rutnam
accused Mrs Patel of ‘shouting and swear-
ing, belittling people, making unreasona-
ble and repeated demands’.
Sir Philip, who branded Mrs Patel a liar
and a bully, is now suing the Government
for constructive dismissal. an official at
the Department for Work and Pensions is
reported to have received a £25,000 payout
after filing a formal complaint against the
department. according to legal docu-
ments seen by the BBC, the woman took
an overdose of prescription medicines fol-
lowing the alleged bullying in 2015.
Mrs Patel has also been accused of bully-
ing her private secretary during her time
as international Development Secretary.
a senior official at the Department for
international Development has claimed
there was a ‘tsunami’ of allegations of
abuse by officials in her private office.
One former senior figure in the depart-

Lawsuit:

Sir Philip

Rutnam