Patel and Foreign Office clash over her ‘secret’ meetings in Israel

‘The Foreign Office did know about this. Boris knew. It is not on, it is not on at all.”

PRITI PATEL has accused the Foreign Office of wrongly briefing against her in an ongoing row with her Department for International Development.

Ms Patel faced an allegation that she broke the ministerial code of conduct amid claims that she failed to inform the Foreign Office of her meetings with the leader of one of Israel’s main political parties and a powerful lobbyist.

The International Development Secretary met Yair Lapid, the leader of Israel’s centrist Yesh Atid party, alongside Lord Stuart Polak, the honorary president of Conservative Friends of Israel. He was the director of the lobbying group for 25 years.

The BBC said that British diplomats were not made aware of her plans, despite the convention that sees ministers inform the Foreign Office when they are planning on engaging in official business while overseas. Ms Patel is understood to have ambitions to lead the Tories, and Conservative Friends of Israel would be in a position to help fund any future leadership bid.

She angrily accused the Foreign Office of erroneously briefing against her, insisting that Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, was told of her plans in advance.

Mr Johnson said it was “quite right that she meets with people and organisations overseas”.

Ms Patel called on the Foreign Office to correct the misleading impression she said it had given, but it declined to respond to her call, giving credence to suggestions the Foreign Office and the Department for International Development (DFID) do not see eye to eye.

Ms Patel said: “The Foreign Office did know about this. Boris knew. It is not on, it is not on at all.”

She confirmed she had paid for the holiday to Israel, insisting it had “nothing to do with foreign policy”. Theresa May’s official spokesman said “no investigation” was being carried out into whether she broke ministerial rules.

However one minister said: “This is outrageous. She is a Cabinet minister. She just cannot do this.”

Jon Trickett, Labour’s shadow cabinet office minister, has written to Theresa May demanding an inquiry into Ms Patel’s actions, claiming they showed “complete disregard” for the ethics of public service. He said if Ms Patel made foreign policy commitments at the meetings she could have breached the ministerial code, which states that “ministers must ensure that no conflict arises, or could reasonably be perceived to arise, between their public duties and private interests, financial or otherwise”.