Priti Patel is facing fresh pressure over bullying allegations today despite Boris Johnson vowing to ‘stick by’ her – with a claim she threw a folder at an official during a row.
The Prime Minister told MPs he had full confidence in the embattled Home Secretary despite launching a Cabinet Office inquiry this week into claims that she bullied staff.
But his vote of confidence came as a Whitehall source told the Mail that Miss Patel had thrown a folder at an official, hitting him in the face during a meeting in 2016.
The fresh claim, which was denied by allies of Miss Patel last night, dates from her time as Employment Minister.
A Whitehall source said: ‘She was being briefed by officials for an event and there was a page missing and she got annoyed. At the end of the briefing, she threw the folder at him and hit him in the face.
Boris Johnson said he was ‘sticking by’ Priti Patel (pictured left) after he was pushed on bullying allegations during PMQs yesterday
Former Home Office Permanent Secretary Sir Philip Rutnam (pictured appearing before the Home Affairs Committee in February last year) has threatened to bring a case against the government for constructive dismissal
‘It was so aggressive. She didn’t apologise. It was just like when Alex Ferguson chucked the boot at Beckham.’ A spokesman for Miss Patel said the claim was ‘categorically false’.
Former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, who was Miss Patel’s boss at the time, also denied the claim, saying: ‘If someone threw a file at you, you would report it, wouldn’t you? There wasn’t a complaint.’
But the allegation is the latest in a series of bullying claims levelled against the Home Secretary in recent days – all of which she has denied.
In a bombshell resignation statement at the weekend, the Home Office’s former top civil servant Sir Philip Rutnam accused Miss Patel of ‘shouting and swearing, belittling people, making unreasonable and repeated demands’.
Sir Philip, who branded Miss Patel a liar and a bully, is now suing the government for constructive dismissal.
An official at the Department for Work and Pensions is reported to have received a £25,000 payout after filing a formal complaint her. According to legal documents seen by the BBC the woman took an overdose of prescription medicines following the alleged incident in 2015.
Miss Patel has also been accused of bullying her private secretary during her time as International Development Secretary. A senior official at the Department for International Development (Dfid) has claimed there was a ‘tsunami’ of allegations of abuse by officials in her private office.
One former senior figure in the department told the Mail yesterday that she had ‘harassed’ her private secretary to the point where he was eventually signed off sick with a stress-related condition and asked for a transfer to another department.
But, in a sign of the difficulty the Cabinet Office is likely to face in investigating the claims against Miss Patel, another former Dfid official flatly denied the claim she had bullied her private secretary.
The source said: ‘Priti wanted to get a new private secretary, which is not uncommon for a new minister. It was handled a bit awkwardly but it all ended amicably. The claim she was bullying him is just not true and is being put about maliciously.’ A former minister who served with Miss Patel urged the Prime Minister to sack her.
The minister said: ‘There hasn’t been a single government department in which she has worked where there haven’t been complaints about her conduct, whether it was the Treasury, the Department for Work and Pensions, Dfid or now the Home Office. She is a serial offender.
Ms Patel (pictured on the green benches behind Mr Johnson at PMQs yesterday) has furiously denied the allegations of bullying
‘Shouting and screaming is the way she operates. She is not fit to be a minister and it is a reflection on Boris’s judgment that he ever put her in the Home Office.’
In the Commons yesterday, the Prime Minister gave Miss Patel his full backing.
Speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions, with Miss Patel sat alongside him, Mr Johnson said: ‘The Home Secretary is doing an outstanding job – delivering change, putting police on the streets, cutting crime and delivering a new immigration system – and I’m sticking by her.’ A senior government source said: ‘You could not put a cigarette paper between the PM and Priti. She has his full backing.’ Labour called for an independent inquiry into Miss Patel’s conduct, and said it had received fresh allegations against her from officials who served with her various government departments.
Jeremy Corbyn said Mr Johnson had ‘no shame in defending bullying’ in his Government as he called for an ‘independent’ investigation, and demanded to know when the PM first knew about bullying allegations against Miss Patel.
But Downing Street insisted that the Cabinet Office inquiry, which will report to the PM, would be ‘robust’ and would be able to look at all allegations made against Miss Patel.
It is thought that Miss Patel will be interviewed by senior officials about the claims in the coming days.
Allies of Miss Patel have claimed that ‘dark forces’ are trying to remove her.
Mr Duncan Smith said disgruntled officials were ‘in league’ with each other and elements of the media as part of an effort to damage the government.
‘Some of the civil service are using Priti Patel to take on the Government,’ he said. ‘They’re using Priti to weaken Downing Street’s resolve.
‘If Downing St backs down, some in the civil service will say they have won, and no one will say boo to them again.
‘It’s complete nonsense from start to end.
‘I’ve worked with her and yes, she’s tough, she’s strident. But she’s trying to get a job done.’