Pro-Brexit UK minister quits over Israel row
A BRITISH senior minister was forced to quit the cabinet last night after failing to tell Theresa May the full truth about her secret dealings with the Israeli government.
Priti Patel, international development secretary, was left with no choice but to resign yesterday after details emerged of another meeting with a senior Israeli official which she had failed to disclose to the British prime minister.
Amid farcical scenes, Ms Patel was ordered to fly home to face the music just 12 hours into a threeday tour of Kenya and Uganda – and just two days after she was given a reprieve by Mrs May.
She quit in a 30-minute meeting with the prime minister at Downing Street.
Ms Patel’s downfall came after it emerged she had a series of 12 engagements with senior Israeli figures – including prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu – while on holiday in the country in August.
She then held two additional meetings, one in the UK and one in the US, following her return from Israel. No British civil servants were present and, like her meetings in Israel, she did not report them to the British Foreign Office in the usual way.
In a further development, the Israeli Haaretz newspaper reported that during her stay in the country she visited an Israeli military field hospital in the occupied Golan Heights.
Britain, like other members of the international community, has never recognised Israeli control of the area seized from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War.
In a letter to Mrs May, Ms Patel said: ‘I offer a fulsome apology to you and to the Government for what has happened and offer my resignation.’
In her letter Ms Patel acknowledged that her actions ‘fell below the high standards’ expected.
In reply the prime minister told her that meetings should have been arranged ‘formally and through official channels’.
But last night Ms Patel indicated that she could challenge the British government from the outside over Brexit, as allies argued that she had been treated harshly.
In her resignation letter, she indicated that she could be a thorn in Mrs May’s side, writing: ‘I will speak up for our country, our national interests and the great future that Britain has as a free, independent and sovereign nation.’
Her departure came just a week after the resignation of Defence Secretary Michael Fallon over allegations of sexual harassment.
The prime minister has now lost two of her senior ministers in successive weeks and is expected to face a politically sensitive reshuffle this morning to replace the prominent Brexit-backer.
In her resignation letter Ms Patel said: ‘I accept that in meeting with organisations and politicians during a private holiday in Israel my actions fell below the high standards that are expected of a Secretary of State.
‘While my actions were meant with the best of intentions, my actions also fell below the standards of transparency and openness that I promoted and advocated.’