The Ugly side of Priti

She ‘belittled and bullied’ her staff, creating a toxic atmosphere of fear ..no wonder some of them sang ‘Ding Dong the Witch is Dead’ when PM May sacked her.

- JASON BEATTIE Head of Politics and BEN GLAZE

WHEN Priti Patel arrived at the Home Office in July 2019, staff knew what to expect.

The Conservative MP already had a reputation for wearing sharply-cut suits and wielding even more sharply-cut elbows.

Some ministers inspire loyalty, others are a cause for despair.

In Whitehall, Ms Patel was known for inciting another kind of reaction – fear.

In her apology yesterday, she said: “I am direct and have, at times, got frustrated.”

Civil servants will claim this is the understatement of the year.

As the ambitious Brexiteer worked her way up the ministerial ladder she started to amass what many would regard as a disproportionate number of complaints about her behaviour.

She has been accused of belittling officials and creating an “atmosphere of fear” with her unreasonable demands.

EXPLOSIVE

These may not have come to light had not Sir Philip Rutnam, the most senior civil servant at the Home Office, made his explosive resignation statement in February.

Sir Philip said: “I have received allegations that her conduct has included shouting and swearing, belittling people, making unreasonable and repeated demands – behaviour that created fear and that needed some bravery to call out.” Sir Philip is now pursuing a case for constructive dismissal.

Shortly afterwards, it emerged that a civil servant at the Department for Work and Pensions had received a £25,000 payout after being sacked in 2015.

Legal papers showed the junior employee brought a formal complaint of bullying and harassment against Ms Patel,then the Employment Minister, and the department.