Civil servant quits, accuses official of ‘vicious’ behavior
LONDON >> An extraordinary public row broke out in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s new government Saturday, with a top civil servant quitting amid allegations that he was bullied and mistreated by one of Johnson’s closest political allies.
The official who quit, Philip Rutnam, was the permanent secretary of the Home Office. He said that Home Secretary Priti Patel had carried out a “vicious and orchestrated” cam- paign to discredit him and undermine his authority as the ranking career official in the ministry, which oversees law enforcement and immigration.
Rutnam, a 33-year veteran of the government, said he had clashed repeatedly with Patel over her management of the Home Office, one of the most powerful ministries in the British government, whose immigration responsibilities give it a major role in shaping Britain’s departure from the European Union.
“I have received allegations that her conduct has included shouting and swearing, belittling people, making unreasonable and repeated demands — behavior that created fear and that needed some bravery to call out,” Rutnam said, reading an emotional statement before television cameras.
Rutnam said he believed his treatment was part of a wider pattern of abusive behavior in the government, which has been in a state of near-constant personnel upheaval since Johnson’s Conservative Party won a commanding majority in Parliament in December’s general election.
Earlier in February, the government’s top finance minister, Sajid Javid, resigned rather than accept a demand from the prime minister to cut loose his senior aides. Johnson’s influential political adviser, Dominic Cummings, has moved to remove officials he views as obstacles to Johnson’s agenda.
Most of this housecleaning is going on behind closed doors, the subject of water-cooler gossip or anonymously sourced articles in newspapers.
But with Rutnam’s bitter resignation — in which he accused Patel of lying — the tensions in Johnson’s government have spilled into public view.