‘I’ll stick with Prit’: Boris Johnson doubles down on his backing for beleaguered Home Secretary in This Morning interview but reveals he has made it clear to the Cabinet ‘I don’t like bullying’
- Prime Minister said the under-pressure minister was doing an ‘outstanding job’
- His most senior female minister facing increasing pressure to step down
- She denies new claim she hit official in face with a thrown folder in 2016 meeting
Boris Johnson doubled down on his backing for beleaguered Home Secretary Priti Patel today as she faced mounting pressure over alleged bullying.
The Prime Minister said the under-pressure minister was doing an ‘outstanding job’ as he faced a grilling on ITV magazine show This Morning.
It came as his most senior female minister faced increasing pressure to step down – with a claim she threw a folder at an official during a row.
A Whitehall source told the Daily Mail that Ms Patel, 47, 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.
Interviewed live on television today Mr Johnson said: ‘My instinct is very much to stick with Prit, as they say.’
But with a Cabinet Office probe underway into Ms Patel, he added: ‘I’ve made it clear to all my friends in Cabinet I don’t like bullying.’
The Prime Minister said the under-pressure minister was doing an ‘outstanding job’ as he faced a grilling on ITV magazine show This Morning
It came as his most senior female minister (left) faced increasing pressure to step down – with a claim she threw a folder at an official during a row.
Regarding the alleged 2016 incident, 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.
‘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.