Second Cabinet member in week quits May’s team
Minister met with Israeli offifficials, didn’t tell bosses.
LONDON — Britain’s international development secretary, Priti Patel, on Wednesday became the second Cabinet minister to quit in a week, a signifificant new setback for Prime Minister Theresa May as her shaky government grapples with critical decisions ahead of the country’s departure from the European Union. Patel, 45, resigned after breaching ministerial rules by holding a dozen unauthorized meetings with Israeli officials during a summer vacation, giving a misleading impression about whom she had informed and failing to disclose all the relevant details to May. This new political turmoil is likely to increase speculation about the strength of May’s grip on power, and comes at a tense moment in discussions on quitting the European Union, or Brexit. The resignation also follows a series of sleaze and sexual harassment allegations in Parliament, which prompted another Cabinet minister, Defense Secretary Michael Fallon, to quit last week, and threatens another. The litany of accusations against Patel — who was summoned home from a working visit to Africa — made the minister’s resignation almost inevitable, turning her slow-motion departure from government into a protracted political pantomime. The progress of Patel’s return flflight from Kenya was monitored by thousands online, and on Twitter, users created a hashtag #Prexit — a reference to Patel’s support for Brexit. Television cameras were on hand at Heathrow Airport to catch Patel’s arrival and her walk to a waiting official ministerial limousine that took her to London and eventually to No. 10 Downing St. to meet with May. That proved to be one of her last such journeys; within a few hours, Patel issued a letter accepting that her “actions fell below the high standards that are expected of a secretary of state,” and offering a “fulsome apology,” alongside her resignation. May accepted the resignation — rather than firing Patel — adding that, because “further details have come to light” since a discussion Monday, it was “right that you have decided to resign.” Critics accused Patel of freelancing on foreign policy, and her failure to be completely candid about the extent of her activities ultimately sealed her fate, as information kept emerging. Her private meetings included one with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Net anyahu, an di tl at er emerged that she discussed sending aid money to Israeli authorities. Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported that, during her visit to the country in August, Patel visited an Israeli military fifield hospital in Golan Heights, even though her government regards the area as occupied territory. For May, the episode has been a particular headache because Patel is a passionate supporter of Brexit within a Cabinet that was constructed carefully to balance views on Europe. In the short term, Patel’s departure has distracted attention from calls for the resignation of Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, whose inaccurate comments may have worsened the plight of a British woman who is imprisoned in Iran. Only last week, Fall on resigned as defense secretary amid a series of allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior among lawmakers.