Big payout for top official as Patel bullying case dropped

A FORMER top civil servant has agreed one of the biggest ever Civil Service payoffs to settle his dismissal claim after accusing Priti Patel of bullying.

Sir Philip Rutnam, the former Home Office permanent secretary, has received a £340,000 payout plus his legal costs from the Government after agreeing to end his unfair dismissal claim.

Sir Philip resigned in February last year, accusing Ms Patel of a “vicious and orchestrated” briefing campaign against him, claiming constructive dismissal and accusing Ms Patel of bullying her subordinates.

A 10-day employment tribunal was due to take place in September. But, in a statement yesterday, the Home Office said: “The Government and Sir Philip’s representatives have jointly concluded that it is in both parties’ best interests to reach a settlement at this stage.

“The Government does not accept liability in this matter and it was right that the Government defended the case.”

In a statement issued via his FDA union, Sir Philip said: “I am pleased to say that the Government has today settled the claims that I brought against them and which were due to be heard in an employment tribunal in September.

“This settlement resolves my own case. The FDA is continuing to pursue in separate proceedings the wider issues that have been raised. I now look forward to the next stages of my career.”

The Government said it “regrets the circumstances” surrounding his resignation but added that both parties were “pleased that a settlement has been reached to these proceedings”.

Sir Philip’s resignation led the Cabinet Office to launch an inquiry into whether Ms Patel had broken the code governing ministers’ behaviour.

Sir Alex Allan, Boris Johnson’s standards chief, found that she had – but the Prime Minister rejected his findings and kept her in post. Sir Alex resigned in response.

In his report, Sir Alex found that Ms Patel’s “approach on occasions has amounted to behaviour that can be described as bullying in terms of the impact felt by individuals”.

He concluded: “To that extent her behaviour has been in breach of the ministerial code, even if unintentionally.”

Ms Patel apologised for her alleged behaviour, saying “any upset I have caused was completely unintentional”.