By Chathushka Perera
LONDON, UK (CWBN)_ Prime Minister Boris Johnson creates an outrage in the Home Office with his decision to retain Cabinet MP, Priti Patel, as the Home Secretary, last night (22nd Nov), despite being accused of a breach of ministerial code with respect to bullying officials, according to an internal report based on Cabinet Office Inquiry carried out by Sir Allex Allan at the PM’s request.
The General Secretary of the Association of the First Division Civil Servants (FDA), David Penman said “The ministerial code, the one thing that governs the conduct of ministers, and despite the fact that she was found to have broken it, the prime minister gives no sanction. A lot of people are furious at what they see as double standards.”
He added that, that Home Office service members “are contractually bound by the civil service code, and they would be sacked if they broke it. “
On Friday, the PM stated that he has “full confidence” in his minister, pending a decision with regard to her post, however his bias led to Allan’s resignation.
Patel “unreservedly” apologised on BBC later the next day and claimed that it was “completely unintentional”, and maintained that her work in the “department and across government is deeply challenging” and that “issues are not pointed out to me, we were not being supported obviously in our work.”
Allan had stated that “I recognise that it is for the prime minister to make a judgement on whether actions by a minister amount to a breach of the ministerial code.”
Johnson lauded Patel’s response as a “fulsome apology”.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, also supported Patel yesterday, claiming that ministers are sometimes required to be “direct”.
Moreover, the report too appears to reflect a similar tone to that of Patel where it says, “The high pressure and demands of the role, in the Home Office, coupled with the need for more supportive leadership from top of the department has clearly been a contributory factor.”
Edited by Elishya Perera
