Tories back Priti Patel in ‘bullying’ row and accuse civil servants of being sexist to her
PRITI Patel has received the backing of some of her fellow Tory MPs, who accused civil servants of sexism.
They openly supported the Home Secretary after top mandarin Sir Philip Rutnam resigned claiming she had waged a vicious campaign against him.
But ex-minister Nusrat Ghani said: “She is incredibly determined. Within men that is seen as a fantastic skill and for women sometimes it’s seen as challenging.”
Ex-Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith called Sir Philip “basically incompetent” and said there was “a touch of misogyny” in briefings against Ms Patel.
He told The Sun: “There are reports of shouting and screaming – you only have to substitute this for the word hysterical and you know exactly what they mean.”
He said too many civil servants in the Home Office think they are the “masters” of politicians, not their “servants”.
Sir Philip — dubbed Sir Calamity — said he was the victim of a brutal briefing war and vowed to sue.
Yesterday, PM Boris Johnson said: “I absolutely do have confidence in Priti Patel.
“I think she is a fantastic Home Secretary.”
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said she was in tune with the public on law and order.
He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “She is probably closer to where the public are on the issues of law and order than any home secretary in recent history.
Calamity Phil's list of woes
FROM Brexit bungles to franchise foul-ups, Sir Philip Rutnam has been linked with a series of controversies including:
- Peddling Project Fear by claiming the Army might be deployed to Britain’s borders in a No Deal Brexit;
- Costing Home Secretary Amber Rudd her job over blunders in the Windrush scandal about deportation targets;
- Issuing an apology in 2012, while head of the transport department, over the bungled West Coast mainline franchise;
- Supervising a new emergency services com- munication system which is set to be at least £3billion over budget and three years late;
- Helping to run the HS2 project, which is expected to have doubled in cost to a whopping £106billion.
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“I think she drives things forward.
“Now, I also think she is extremely courteous, and in every dealing I’ve had with her she has been very courteous.”
No10 did not comment on reports about the latest complaint about Ms Patel.
The Sun says
FROM HS2 overspending to the Windrush scandal, mayhem followed the bumbling former mandarin Sir Philip Rutnam wherever he went.
But that didn’t put the brakes on his career. Oh, no. Because, in the topsy-turvy world of Whitehall, whopping mistakes mean whopping promotions.
When he screwed up in transport, there was a massive job waiting for him at the Home Office.
And when he screwed up there, they gave him a knighthood.
And so things would have rumbled merrily on, if Priti Patel hadn’t come along and put a spanner in the works.
The British people made it clear in December that they wanted big changes to our immigration system and Patel — a no-nonsense Leave voter — came to the job determined to deliver them.
For Rutnam and his fellow over- promoted Home Office pen-pushers, this sounded too much like hard work.
So, with mind-numbing predictability, they turned on the woman with the mission and the mandate.
Britain is lucky that our firebrand Home Secretary fought back. And luckier still to be shot of the useless Rutnam.
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