IN AT THE DEEP END
May keeps the Brexiteers happy by giving TV swimsuit star Penny foreign aid hot seat (but she won’t be allowed to cut a penny off bloated giveaways)
THERESA May bowed to Eurosceptic demands to maintain the delicate Cabinet balance on Brexit yesterday, as she appointed a replacement for Priti Patel.
In a swift mini-reshuffle, the Prime Minister promoted work and pensions minister Penny Mordaunt to take on Miss Patel’s role as International Development Secretary.
Mrs May is still weighing up whether to conduct a wider reshuffle in the coming months, as some senior Tories are urging.
But, with the Budget less than a fortnight away, and Brexit talks finely poised, she decided a wider shake-up would have to wait.
Miss Mordaunt, like Miss Patel, was a prominent supporter of the Vote Leave campaign during last year’s referendum.
The decision to promote her followed demands from Eurosceptic MPs to preserve the Cabinet balance on Brexit.
Government chief whip Julian Smith had sounded out ministers and senior MPs about the possibility of replacing Miss Patel with a pro- Remain minister. But Eurosceptics proved to be resistant.
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said it would be wrong to tip the balance in the Cabinet further in favour of Remainers.
Before the announcement, he said: ‘This is not a reshuffle, this is simply a replacement, so I don’t think Theresa May is looking to change any great balance in here or send any great signals. It would be wrong to make any great changes to the balance of the Cabinet. You want to find somebody that is capable, that is the first consideration.’
He added: ‘We are all Brexiteers now. The question is to what degree do you want someone in that job to be in support of David Davis and others, and I think the balance of having strong Brexit views is one the Prime Minister will probably look for.’
Mrs May was forced to con- duct a second mini-reshuffle in a week when Miss Patel quit on Wednesday evening after it emerged she had failed to reveal the full truth about her secret dealings with the Israeli government.
Last week, Mrs May had to replace Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon after he resigned over allegations of sexual harassment.
Miss Mordaunt, who spent time as an aid worker in Romanian orphanages before entering Parliament, is a popular figure on the right of the party. She is a Royal Navy reservist, best known for taking part in ITV’s celebrity diving show Splash!
During the referendum campaign she clashed with David Cameron after claim- ing Britain would not be able to block Turkey’s accession to the EU.
In last year’s Tory leadership contest, she backed fellow Brexiteer Andrea Leadsom, taking part in an impromptu march on Parliament by Tory MPs chanting in support of Mrs Leadsom.
It is not known whether Miss Mordaunt will take Miss Patel’s place on key Cabinet meetings dealing with Brexit.
Miss Patel took to Twitter last night to congratulate her ‘dear friend’ on taking up her role in charge of the UK’s £13billion aid budget. Government sources said the change of personnel would make no difference to the controversial commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of the UK’s income on foreign aid. Mrs May used yesterday’s mini-reshuffle to promote two more women. Junior Home Office minister Sarah Newton was promoted to fill Miss Mordaunt’s role at the Department for Work and Pensions, where she was in charge of disability issues. And Louth and Horncastle MP Victoria Atkins had her reputation as a rising star confirmed when she was made a Home Office minister. She became the first MP from the 2015 intake to be appointed as a minister.
Miss Patel faced calls to go on Monday after it emerged she had held a dozen secret meetings with senior Israelis, including premier Benjamin Netenyahu, during a ‘family holiday’ in August.
Mrs May initially issued a reprimand and accepted an apology. But Miss Patel was forced to quit on Wednesday when it emerged she had failed to tell the PM about a further secret meeting.
Her departure added to the sense of crisis surrounding the Government.
Asked if she was joining a Cabinet ‘in chaos’, Miss Mordaunt said: ‘I’m delighted to have been appointed … the new Secretary of State for International Development.’
Her appointment was welcomed by the aid community, with campaigner Romilly Greenhill saying a past stint as an aid worker in Romania meant she was ‘well suited’ to the role.
‘Her dear friend’
SMIRKING at the cameras, Priti Patel gave every impression she went to No 10 on Wednesday night to be promoted.
But given the scandal that has enveloped her – and which rightly prompted her resignation – the outgoing Foreign Aid Secretary had no reason to smile at all.
Indeed, this episode has revealed a troubling lack of judgment.
While travelling to Israel on a family holiday this summer, she held high-level meetings – including with the country’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu – seemingly without telling either Downing Street or the Foreign Office or taking any officials with her.
The kindest possible reading is that she was naive in the extreme.
When the story broke, she misled reporters by suggesting the Foreign Office had been aware in advance of her off-piste diplomacy. Then, as Downing Street stood by her on Monday, she repaid that trust by failing to tell Theresa May the whole truth.
Clearly, this is no way for a Cabinet minister to behave, and Mrs May could justifiably have fired her on the spot. Allowed the dignity of resigning, Miss Patel used the opportunity to issue a thinlyveiled warning that she could become a thorn in Mrs May’s side.
Does she not realise that her actions have emboldened Labour, and undermined both the Government and the cause of Brexit for which she campaigned so hard?
The Mail hopes that her career in front line politics is not over. But to rehabilitate herself, a period of quiet reflection, contrition and – above all else – loyalty is very much required.