WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2020Patel must step down over
bullying row, Abbott says
Priti Patel, the home secretary, outside Downing Street yesterday (Reuters)
ASHLEY COWBURN
POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
Labour’s Diane Abbott has called on Priti Patel to step down as home secretary while the Cabinet Office
conducts an inquiry into bullying allegations levelled against her.
The shadow home secretary made the comments after Boris Johnson was forced to launch an investigation
in the wake of the explosive resignation of the top civil servant at the Home Office.
It also emerged on Monday that a former aide to Ms Patel received a £25,000 payout after allegedly being
bullied in 2015 by the minister. The BBC said it had seen legal correspondence claiming the woman had
taken an overdose following the incident, when Ms Patel was an employment minister.