May leaves Patel’s fate in balance

PRITI PATEL’S future hung in the balance last night after it emerged she held two further unauthorised meetings with senior Israeli politicians without telling Downing Street.

There was growing speculation last night that the International Development Secretary could be sacked today after she admitted she met the Israeli public security minister in September in Parliament and an official from the Israeli foreign ministry in New York a week later.

The Foreign Office and Downing Street were unaware the meetings, which happened just weeks after she returned from a controversial holiday to the country, had taken place.

It came as Ms Patel, who was reprimanded by the Prime Minister on Monday over a series of secret meetings with Israeli politicians in August, admitted yesterday that she had suggested helping the Israelis with humanitarian work in the occupied Golan Heights area, even though Britain does not recognise Israel’s claim to the land.

Number 10 said “nobody is pretending [she] handled this situation well” and said the proposal to give aid money to the Israeli army was “not appropriate”.

Yesterday Ms Patel left London on a pre-arranged trip to Uganda, having switched her travel plans to catch an earlier flight, meaning she did not have to face a parliamentary grilling. Sources claimed Ms Patel had switched flights so she could be “fresh” for meetings in Uganda today. It came on another day of turmoil for the Government, as:

 Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, was forced to ring his Iranian counterpart to undo the damage caused by comments he made about a British woman jailed in Iran;

 A group of Tory rebels said they now had more than 40 MPS willing to call on Mrs May to set a date for her departure if she does not do so in the next week; A poll for The Daily Telegraph by ORB International shows that 66per cent of people disapprove of the Government’s handling of the Brexit negotiations;

 Mrs May decided not to hold her usual Tuesday Cabinet meeting;

 It emerged that a former aide to disgraced ex-defence secretary Sir Michael Fallon was being investigated by police over an alleged sexual assault;  A Cabinet Office inquiry into the behaviour of Damian Green continued.

Despite Downing Street’s insistence that Ms Patel had not breached the Ministerial Code of Conduct, its patience appeared to be running out yesterday when it learnt about the proposed aid donation through a BBC report. One Tory minister said: “I don’t understand what more she needs to do to be sacked.”

Ms Patel disclosed last night that she met Gilad Erdan, the Israeli public security minister, in Parliament for a “general political discussion” on Sept 7. Downing Street was not informed of the meeting until yesterday. On Sept 18 Ms Patel had breakfast with Yuval Rotem, an official from the Israeli foreign ministry, during the UN General Assembly in New York. This was not disclosed to Downing Street until last Friday.

Ms Patel’s decision to fly to Uganda early meant she was not in Parliament to hear Tory MPS criticise her behaviour yesterday. The Commons echoed with cries of, “Where is she?”