Daily Mail - 04.03.2020

Page 10 Daily Mail, Wednesday, March 4, 2020

ALLIES of Priti Patel have blamed

her former top civil servant for

dragging her into a row about an

aide who took an overdose amid

claims of bullying.

Sources close to the Home Secre-

tary said it was ‘ludicrous’ to accuse

her of being responsible for the wom-

an’s legal case against the Govern-

ment, arguing that it had started long

before Miss Patel took office.

The MP has been under fire for weeks

after being accused of bullying staff during

her time as a minister and the Cabinet

Office is leading an inquiry to ‘establish

the facts’ over whether she breached the

ministerial code in her dealings with aides.

Miss Patel came under renewed pres-

sure on Monday when it emerged that

By Claire Ellicott

Political Correspondent

Row erupts

over toxic

claims that

bullying led

to overdose

Under fire: Priti

Patel arrives at

the Home Office

yesterday

ence alleges.

The minister is described in the

woman’s formal grievance com-

plaint as having acted ‘without

warning’ and with an ‘unprovoked

level of aggression’.

The Department for Work and

Pensions did not admit liability

and the case did not come before a

tribunal, the BBC reported.

But yesterday Miss Patel’s allies

hit back. One said: ‘It’s ludicrous

to drag Priti into this.

‘This person only worked for Priti

for two weeks and was already in

the process of quitting when Priti

took over as employment minister.

‘The accusations of bullying were

made against the department, not

Priti, and the payout was made by

the Civil Service – which, by the

way, mishandled her case entirely.

It was nothing to do with Priti at

all.’ The allies blamed friends of Sir

Philip Rutnam, the former top offi-

cial at the Home Office, for spread-

ing the ‘false’ allegations.

Sir Philip resigned on Saturday

following an extraordinary briefing

row with Miss Patel after he

accused her of belittling staff in

the department.

He said he had become the ‘tar-

get of vicious and orchestrated

campaign against him’, which he

alleged she was involved in.

But Miss Patel’s friend said: ‘It’s

actually very serious that a civil

servant had mental health issues

and attempted to take her own life

because of the way she was treated

by her civil service colleagues.

‘And it’s childish and stupid for

anonymous friends of Philip Rutnam

to push around false stories about

civil service mistakes which she

[Miss Patel] had nothing to do with.’

The row came after Boris Johnson

asked the Cabinet Office to ‘estab-

lish the facts’ around bullying claims.

Cabinet Office minister Michael

Gove said the inquiry will examine

all the complaints, although it is

unclear if the Department for Work

and Pensions claim is included.

The PM has already offered Miss

Patel his support, calling her a ‘fan-

tastic Home Secretary’.

Yesterday, it emerged she has

sent an internal email to staff say-

ing she regretted Sir Philip’s resig-

nation and calling on her depart-

ment to pull together.

Asked yesterday if Mr Johnson

knew about the DWP allegation,

his official spokesman said: ‘The

Home Secretary denies any allega-

tions of bullying and the PM has

expressed full confidence in her.

An inquiry is under way.’

Sir Philip could not be reached

for comment.

Adviser

who told

Cummings

to be kind

loses job

By Political

Correspondent

A SPECIAL adviser who con-

fronted Boris Johnson’s

chief adviser Dominic Cum-

mings over his ‘unkindness’

two weeks ago has been

removed from her job.

Lynn Davidson will leave

her post as an adviser to

Defence Secretary Ben Wal-

lace after No 10 attempted

to move her to the Depart-

ment of Health prior to her

comments to Mr Cummings,

as part of a wider shake-up.

Mr Wallace is said to have

asked Downing Street to

keep Miss Davidson at the

Ministry of Defence but was

told this was not an option.

Miss Davidson’s employment

was then terminated.

The former Mail journalist,

pictured, put the Prime Min-

ister’s most senior adviser

on the spot over his treat-

ment of colleagues at a

meeting of Government

special advisers

on February 14.

She told him

that he was

out of order

and should

show more

respec t to

young

aides.

‘Pushing around

false stories’

Priti aide ‘took an

overdose af ter

claims of bully ing’

From yesterday’s Mail

one of her former aides when she was

employment minister took an overdose

and received a £25,000 payout from the

Government.

Miss Patel had shouted at the woman in

her private office and told her to ‘get lost’

and ‘get out of her face’, legal correspond-

Is Priti victim of smears

over aide’s ‘suicide bid’?