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Downing Street is under increasing pressure to explain the continued absence of Priti Patel at daily press conferences on government coronaviruses.
They have been running since March 16 and have seen numerous high-ranking ministers recruited to update the nation on the latest in the fight against the deadly disease.
But the Home Secretary has yet to participate despite having one of the four great state offices in the UK.
Ms. Patel’s allies today insisted that she is “100 percent committed” to the government’s response to the outbreak and continues to work at the Central Office “almost every day.”
The questions about why Ms Patel has not chaired one of the daily briefings came when she was entangled in a furious line with MPs when she would answer questions in front of the Select Committee on Internal Affairs.
He is said to have turned down four invitations to appear in front of the committee since January.
Patel has now vowed to present evidence before the end of the month, but committee chair Yvette Cooper is adamant that the session should take place on April 15.
The Interior Minister has had a noticeably reduced public role in recent months after she faced a string of intimidation allegations earlier this year.
Priti Patel, photographed in Downing Street on February 13, has yet to appear at one of the government’s daily coronavirus press conferences.
Oliver Dowden, the Secretary of Culture, insisted today that Ms. Patel is “100 percent committed” in the government’s response to coronaviruses.
Boris Johnson, Dominic Raab, Rishi Sunak, Alok Sharma and Robert Jenrick have chaired the daily press conference for the government, but Patel has not.
Patel’s last public appearance is believed to have been questions from the Interior Ministry in the House of Commons on March 23.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden insisted today that the interior minister is still working after she was accused of avoiding scrutiny.
Mr Dowden told Sky News: ‘I can really assure you that the Home Secretary is aware of all this and commits himself hour by hour and day by day. I see this every day.
It is 100% committed. She is in the Main Office almost every day that I know of, that’s where I have seen her every day.
“I really don’t think there is a problem with the interior minister.”
Allies of the Home Secretary suggested that their absence from press conferences to date was simply because other departments, such as the Treasury, have had more important announcements than the Home Office as the crisis unfolds.
Ms Patel is required to present evidence in public about the Interior Ministry’s response to the coronavirus pandemic to the Internal Affairs Committee since January, but a date for a hearing has not yet been set.
Since then, he has faced allegations of disparaging officials at the Home Office, claims he has vehemently denied, and Sir Philip Rutnam resigns as permanent secretary amid claims of constructive dismissal and bullying.
Ms. Cooper is believed to have written six letters to Ms. Patel in the past three months in an effort to officially set a date for the Home Secretary to present evidence to the committee.
After apparently not responding to several of Ms. Cooper’s letters, Ms. Patel responded Tuesday, writing that she was “disappointed by the increasingly conflicting tone of our exchanges.”
She added that she was very sorry that the committee rejected his offer for private briefings at the Home Office, but that it would “make itself … available for a session with the committee, about our response to Covid-19, towards the end. of month ‘.
In response, Ms. Cooper said the committee was preparing to meet remotely for the hearing on April 15.
“We believe there is no reason for a delay beyond this date,” Cooper said.
The last public appearance of the Home Secretary is believed to have been in the House of Commons on March 23
Ms Patel is also locked in a furious dispute with Labor MP and Chairperson of the Select Committee on Home Affairs, Yvette Cooper, over when the Home Secretary will answer questions in public.
“Delaying until the end of the month would be clearly inappropriate given the urgency of public information and the responses that are needed.”
Ms. Cooper said that many other ministers made themselves available to committees during the crisis.
“This is a time of national emergency where public information, security, leadership, transparency and scrutiny are in the national interest,” said Cooper.
“At a time like this, we hope to see the Home Secretary and senior officials demonstrate public leadership and transparency and be prepared to answer public questions without delay.”
Ms. Patel has appeared in front of the committee once, last October, since she was appointed to the position in July.
Allies said the Interior Minister had never refused to attend the committee and that the problem has been trying to find a date that works.
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry told The Guardian: ‘The Interior Minister accepted the invitation to appear before the Select Committee on Home Affairs before the end of April.
“As expected, he is currently leading the Home Office response during this national crisis, working tirelessly to keep the British public safe.”
