Priti Patel today faced fresh accusations of bullying during her ministerial career amid claims she ‘dressed down’ staff in front of their colleagues and asked: ‘Why is everyone so f***ing useless?’
Ms Patel has faced accusations of belittling staff and creating an ‘atmosphere of fear’ at the Home Office.
But claims have now been made relating to her time as international development secretary and when she was a minister at the Department for Work and Pensions.
Allies of the Home Secretary dismissed the allegations as ‘malicious gossip’.
The latest claims came after it emerged that Ms Patel had tried to oust the permanent secretary at the Home Office, Sir Philip Rutnam, after they clashed.
But Sir Philip was today facing a growing backlash as he was accused of overseeing a ‘culture of politicised leaks’ at the department.
It was also claimed that the top mandarin had failed to take ‘any responsibility or face any consequence for the Windrush scandal’ despite being paid ‘more than the prime minister’.
Priti Patel, pictured with Boris Johnson on January 31, has faced accusations of bullying. Her allies have denied the claims
Sir Philip Rutnam (pictured left) is said to have raised concerns about Ms Patel’s treatment of staff with the Cabinet Office. The Home Secretary reportedly pushed Sir Mark Sedwill (pictured right) to get rid of Sir Philip
A number of ex-ministers and officials today made fresh claims about Ms Patel in comments reported by The Times.
The allegations span the last five years and the newspaper said that concerns had been raised with Number 10 in 2017 about Ms Patel’s behaviour when she was aid secretary.
Former ministers claimed there was a ‘pattern’ of unacceptable behaviour.
An ex-minister said of the allegations relating to Ms Patel’s time at the Home Office: ‘Is it a one-off? No it bloody isn’t. It’s her.’
The former minister claimed Ms Patel would ‘deliberately dress officials down in front of their colleagues’ during team meetings.
They also claimed that ‘aggressive emails’ would be sent by Ms Patel, ‘sometimes… in the middle of the night’.
Meanwhile, a former official said of Ms Patel’s time at Dfid: ‘She would come out [of] office and say, “Why is everyone so f***ing useless”.’
Allies of Ms Patel emphatically rejected the claims and labelled them ‘malicious gossip’.
It came amid a backlash against Sir Philip who Ms Patel reportedly had asked Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill to get rid of.
Sir Philip was in post at the Home Office during the Windrush scandal and faced calls to resign over the department’s handling of the crisis.
One former Home Office insider told Politico that Sir Philip was ‘nowhere to be seen’ during the scandal.
‘Then, just like now, he oversaw a culture of politicised leaks and egotistical briefing from the department and has managed to avoid taking any responsibility or face any consequence for the Windrush scandal, instead staying in the role he gets paid more than the prime minister for, and throwing his deputy and others under the bus,’ they said.
Sir Philip told the Home Affairs Select Committee in November 2018 that he felt ‘personal responsibility for everything that happens in the Department’.
He also said he felt ‘personal responsibility for the fact that we did not spot the Windrush events sooner’.
However, he said that was ‘not the same, though, as saying that I am responsible in the sense that I should have done something in real time to prevent it’.
The Home Office has been approached for comment in relation to the claims made against Sir Philip.
Nadhim Zahawi, the Business minister, dismissed the bullying claims made against Ms Patel, saying the Home Seceretary is ‘utterly professional’
It came after it emerged that Ms Patel fell out with Home Office officials after she accused them of dragging their feet over tougher action against eco-warrriors.
The Home Secretary wanted them to look into ways to change police powers to stop protesters bringing cities to a standstill, a government source said.
But she felt they were raising objections to reforms which could have helped the police tackle organisations such as Extinction Rebellion.
Allies of Ms Patel have rejected the bullying claims made against her.
Business minister Nadhim Zahawi said yesterday: ‘I’ve known Priti for 25 years, she’s utterly professional, works night and day to deliver for the country and her constituents and is absolutely focused on making sure… the people voted for us to take back control of our borders.’
Pushed on whether he believed Ms Patel is a bully, Mr Zahawi said: ‘No, I don’t think she is at all.
‘I’ve worked with Priti in the past on several campaigns, I’ve known her literally for 25 years, she is a brilliant, collegiate team player.’
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘We have not received any formal complaints and we take the welfare of our staff extremely seriously.’
An ally of Ms Patel told The Times: ‘The Home Office is dysfunctional and the current permanent secretary had presided over a sacking of a home secretary (Amber Rudd) and accidental deportations.
‘If this were any other environment Philip Rutnam would not only be sacked he’d be denied a pension.’
But a Home Office source told the newspaper: ‘Sir Philip and [Ms Patel] have fundamental disagreements about the rule of law. He’s committed and she isn’t.
‘She’s belittled him and caused consternation, and she frequently encourages behaviour outside the rule of law.’
It was claimed that bubbling tensions came to a head last week when a senior official collapsed after a meeting with Ms Patel following an all-night effort to reverse a High Court ruling barring the deportation of 25 foreign criminals to Jamaica.
At a meeting the following morning he was allegedly confronted by the Home Secretary, who demanded to know why the department had failed to reverse the ruling.
He reportedly fell ill later during another meeting and was taken to hospital, where he was found to have a sodium deficiency.