By Tony O’Riley
Allegations against Home Secretary Priti Patel are simply cases of no smoke without fire, and should be alarming for the British government. Boris Johnson has asked the cabinet to establish the facts.
On the face of it, this seems like a typical case of no smoke without fire. The fact a former aide to Priti Patel received a £25,000 payout from the government after claiming she was bullied by the then employment minister.
The Health Secretary has come to her defence, describing her as ”robust and determined”, ”kind and courteous”, but calls for her to step down whilst an investigation is undertaken are understandable. She will resist those calls as is consistent with a determined individual who has denied the allegations.
After the Home Office’s most senior official, Sir Philip Rutnam resigned on Saturday alleging bullish conduct by Ms Patel towards staff included “swearing, belittling people, making unreasonable and repeated demands, revelation by the BBC that a former aide received £25k pay out over bullying allegations are worrying. According to the official complaint, the woman took an overdose of prescription medicine following the alleged incident in 2015. Allegation of mistreatment by the Home Secretary has led to call for her resignation.
When a junior employee at the DWP brings a formal complaint of bullying and harassment against the Home Office, including Ms Patel, that’s very disturbing for anyone looking at this from the outside after being dismissed from her role in October 2015.
The staff member’s grievance letter alleges she had previously attempted to kill herself after reporting similar allegations of workplace bullying concerning another individual in 2014, before Ms Patel was a minister.
Legal correspondence seen by the BBC show a junior employee at the DWP brought a formal complaint of bullying and harassment against the department, including Ms Patel, after being dismissed from her role in October 2015.
The staff member’s grievance letter alleges she had previously attempted to kill herself after reporting similar allegations of workplace bullying concerning another individual in 2014, before Ms Patel was a minister.
The staff member also alleges she was told the decision to dismiss her a year later was not made on performance grounds but because Ms Patel did not “like [her] face” Ms Patel is described as having acted “without warning” and with an “unprovoked level of aggression”, in the woman’s formal grievance complaint. Shortly after, the staff member allegedly took an overdose of prescription medication in the office and lay with her head on the desk for some time.