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Former Home Secretary Ken Clarke has raised concerns about the prime minister’s refusal to fire Priti Patel, despite the fact that a formal investigation found evidence that she had intimidated public officials.
Speaking on Times Radio on Saturday, Clarke said he was concerned about the “awkward situation.”
“Before it was assumed that if an investigation was carried out that far and if it was found that someone had violated the ministerial code, I don’t think anyone would have doubted that the minister, to use the old phrase, would have to consider his position,” he said.
Clarke said he was particularly concerned about the resignation of Sir Alex Allan, the prime minister’s ethics adviser, whom he described as “calm and reasonable.”
Allan resigned on Friday after Boris Johnson overturned his finding that Patel had violated ministerial code. The prime minister had insisted that the code had not been violated and said he had full confidence in Patel.
Former permanent Home Office Secretary Sir David Normington also criticized Boris Johnson for backing Patel and condemned the decision as “completely unacceptable.”
Normington said it was “the first time that I remember that we have a prime minister who does not seem willing to uphold high standards in public life.”
He told BBC Radio 4 on Saturday: “There has to be an acknowledgment of her [Patel] and the prime minister who was found to have intimidated staff, possibly in three departments, not just the Home Office, and that’s completely unacceptable.
“The prime minister has simply sidelined the conclusions of a report and of the independent adviser, Sir Alex Allan, that she is a bully and that there should be no bullies in government.
“We have to put ourselves in the position of being harassed. No one has spoken for them, some of them are junior staff and today they will be sitting there thinking that their voice has not been heard and the prime minister cannot be trusted to defend them.
On Friday, Patel said he was “sorry that my behavior upset people,” and said that he “had never set out to intentionally annoy anyone.”
But Alex Thomas, director of the Institute of Government and former official, said the incident threatened the “institutions and political norms and safeguards that we have in our system.”
“The fact that the prime minister has decided that she did not break the ministerial code shows the weakness of that,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live. “For me, this is less a loss of public trust, although there is an aspect to that, and more about the safeguards that exist within the state to prevent wrongdoing.”
However, some conservatives supported Johnson and Patel on Saturday, and Berwick upon Tweed MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan said it was the responsibility of junior staff members to complain or ask the Home Secretary to change their behavior.
Douglas Ross, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said the decision on Patel’s position ultimately rested with the prime minister, but suggested that reports of allegations of intimidation should be shared.
“That is a decision of the prime minister, he has reviewed the entire report and the interior secretary has apologized,” Ross told Times Radio. “But ultimately, it is the choice of the prime minister who sits at his cabinet table.”
“In fact, I think there is an argument that we see the full detail of these reports,” he added.
