A half-term break for Tories to get a grip

WHAT did International Development Secretary Priti Patel think she was playing at, going off-piste to conduct her own foreign policy during a ‘family holiday’ in Israel? As if Theresa May didn’t have enough distractions on her plate!

In the event, little harm appears to have come from Miss Patel’s unauthorised meetings with prominent Israelis, including prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But when she initially claimed she had the Foreign Office’s blessing for her discussions, she was less than honest. Now it seems she didn’t even warn her own senior officials at the overseas aid department about her freelance venture into diplomacy.

The depressing truth is that her conduct merely heightens the impression of a Government losing its grip, with ministers too wrapped up in personal agendas to get on with the jobs they’ve been assigned.

Nor does it help that Boris Johnson’s careless talk appears to have worsened the plight of a British citizen imprisoned in Iran. As Foreign Secretary, he must now pull every string to undo any harm he may have done to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

Meanwhile, the entire Tory Party appears to be suffering a collective nervous breakdown over the mostly trivial ‘Pestminster’ scandal, with Commons leader Andrea Leadsom and others throwing fuel on the flames, apparently hoping to advance their own careers.

Indeed, too many ministers seem to be pursuing personal ends, believing the Government’s numerical weakness in the Commons makes them unsackable.

Yet with Brexit approaching – and the threat of a Marxist regime under Jeremy Corbyn hanging over Britain – doesn’t Mrs May’s lack of an overall majority make it all the more vital to stop rocking the boat?

Today, the Commons begins a five- day half-term break. The Tories should seize this opportunity to take a deep breath, recover their sense of proportion – and resolve to put the country’s interests first.