THE CATALOGUE OF WHITEHALL CONTROVERSIES THAT EARNED HIM NICKNAME

Brexit:

Criticised for being a Project Fear scaremonger, claiming the Army could have to be deployed to protect Britain’s borders if we left the EU without a deal.

Illegal immigration:

Admitted that 739 migrants had crossed the Channel between January 2018 and February 2019, including 135 who escaped being intercepted by Border Force or the French authorities.

Windrush scandal:

Accused of costing Home Secretary Amber Rudd her job after blunders over the deportation of Jamaicans. Then he went ‘missing’.

George Osborne said he had ‘seen the completely misleading emails [Ms Rudd] was getting from her Civil Servants on targets’.

Sir Philip admitted the Home Office paid out £21 million after mistakenly detaining more than 850 people. The TaxPayers’ Alliance described these as ‘huge payouts amid shameful episodes’.

Compounding the issue, Sir Philip shocked MPs by saying: ‘I’ve been in the department a year, I’m not an expert.’

West Coast rail fiasco:

Sir Philip was the Department for Transport’s top official in 2012 when First Group won the franchise for what was said to be a ‘preposterous’ £13 billion.

The derailed incumbent, Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Trains, took legal action and the Government was forced to admit officials had made ‘deeply regrettable and completely unacceptable mistakes’.

Sir Philip took a share of the blame, saying: ‘More important than the role of Ministers is the role of senior officials, starting with me.’

Network Rail controversy:

Oversaw a £38 billion improvement programme of the state-run network. But the Transport Secretary later said it had to be ‘reset’, including halting an electrification project for ‘costing more and taking longer’.

HS2:

Ran the transport wing of the rail project when MPs were told in 2015 that it would cost only £56 billion. Today, the final bill is estimated at £106 billion.

Emergency services’ new communications system:

Supervised its introduction, only for the National Audit Office to say it was running at least three years late and £3.1 billion over budget.

Foreign students row:

After the Home Office confessed to ‘significant mistakes and misjudgments’ over foreign students wrongly accused of cheating in English language tests to qualify to stay in the UK, Sir Philip said there was ‘real concern’ that ‘hundreds of innocent individuals, possibly more’ are continuing to maintain their innocence after being erroneously caught.

Police Tasers:

Sir Philip tried to block an announcement last September that more police would be allowed to carry the stun guns. Ironically, the Government will finally announce these measures today.

Leaks:

Colleagues claimed he presided over a ‘culture of politicised leaks’ at the Home Office.