Sajid Javid accused of stoking bullying storm engulfing Priti Patel
His camp ‘helped orchestrate civil servant’s f louncing out in cahoots with BBC’s Kuenssberg’
FORMER Chancellor Sajid Javid has been accused of playing a key role in the crisis engulfing Home Secretary Priti Patel over allegations that she bullied staff.
The pair previously clashed over immigration policy, and now allies of Ms Patel believe that aides loyal to Mr Javid helped to orchestrate Home Office Permanent Secretary Sir Philip Rutnam’s dramatic resignation last weekend. Sir Philip stormed out after claiming Ms Patel had sworn at staff and made unreasonable demands.
The allies claim Sir Philip’s live statement to the BBC – in which he said he was planning to take her and the department to court for constructive dismissal – had ‘Javid’s fingerprints all over it’.
Their suspicions increased when BBC Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg told viewers: ‘Sajid Javid apparently had a good relationship with Sir Philip Rutnam when he was Home Secretary, and a member of Sajid Javid’s team has already been in touch with me this morning to make that point.’
Friends of Mr Javid say the idea that he has stoked the row is a ‘total fabrication’.
Ms Patel’s allies also say Sir Philip ‘confected’ the row to distract attention from highly critical conclusions contained in the forthcoming official report into the Windrush scandal. One Home Office official said that in the days running up to Sir Philip’s resignation, senior mandarins had been in a ‘panic’ that the department – and therefore Sir Philip – would be far more heavily criticised than they had expected.
Sir Philip claims he’s the victim of a vicious and orchestrated briefing campaign.
Boris Johnson has insisted he is sticking by Ms Patel over a series of bullying allegations, including claims that she belittled her private secretary when she was International Development Secretary. A friend of Ms Patel said: ‘Priti and Sajid clashed all the time when Javid was at the Treasury, usually over immigration. He resisted her funding requests and annoyed her by calling for an extension of EU freedom of movement rules for two years after Brexit. This had Javid’s fingerprints all over it.’
The ally added that suspicions of MrJavid’ s involvement were increased by the fact that one of his closest advisers during his time at the Treasury shared a flat with a senior Rutnam aide – and that journalists writing widely about the bullying allegations also have close links with the Javid camp.
Mr Javid resigned last month after Downing Street mounted a Treasury power grab.
The Windrush review began in 2018 after the row over Caribbean mi grants being detained or deported – despite having the right to live in Britain – forced then Home Secretary Amber Rudd to resign. The report was originally intended for publication in March last year, but is now expected to be released later this month.
The review, led by Wendy Williams, an HM Inspector of Constabulary, is expected to conclude that the Home Office was ‘reckless’, had developed a ‘defensive culture’ over immigration policy, and that all department staff should be educated about Britain’s colonial past.
The panic among mandarins is said to have started after the beginning of the ‘Maxwellisation’ process, in which those criticised in the report are allowed to respond.
Friends of Ms Patel have spoken privately about how she feels worn down by the bullying claims.
One said: ‘You know how resilient Priti is – she really is as tough as nails. But this is really getting to her. I spoke to her this week and she is very stressed out.’
Another friend contrasted her demeanour now to how she dealt with her 2017 resignation crisis – she was forced to quit as International Development Secretary over holding unauthorised talks with Israeli politicians.
The friend said: ‘Then she just walked into No 10 and told Theresa May she was quitting without waiting to hear she was being sacked.
‘But this time, it sounds as though she is really feeling the pressure.’
One senior Tory MP close to Ms Patel said she lost respect for Mr Javid when he refused to back the Leave campaign in 2016. The MP said: ‘It is fair to say Priti does not get on with Sajid. She sees him as someone who was really in favour of Brexit but, for misguided career reasons, backed Remain. Now it feels like Sajid’s people are taking the opportunity to get back at her.’
A source close t o Mr Javid insisted: ‘He thinks Priti is an outstanding Home Secretary. They are in touch regularly and he has offered her his full support.’
‘This has Javid’s fingerprints all over it’