Priti Patel

Asylum seekers could be sent to processing centres abroad under Priti Patel’s plans to overhaul the immigration system, according to reports. The British overseas territory of Gibraltar is a location under consideration by officials, according to The Times, as well as the Isle of Man and other islands off the British coast. Priti Patel has […]

Which minister’s mate charged the government £2.6million for the new No.10 Downing Street press briefing room, asks Mitch Benn as he hands out political awards to Boris Johnson and Priti Patel Hello and welcome to this, the first of my columns to be 100% compliant with the terms of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts […]

Former Remain and Leave groups have united in opposition to the government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. Opponents of Priti Patel’s latest act of legislation include Richard Tice – former chairman of the Brexit Party and Leave Means Leave – and Tom Brufatto, former leader of the People’s Vote marches and co-director of March […]

The failure to properly investigate allegations against ministers risks damaging public confidence, Boris Johnson’s former independent adviser on the ministerial code has warned. Sir Alex Allan said there was now a case for giving the adviser greater powers to initiate their own inquiries into complaints against members of the government. Sir Alex quit the post […]

The government is understood to have agreed a “substantial” payout to settle a top civil servant’s employment tribunal claim after he quit amid allegations of Priti Patel’s bullying.Home Office chief Sir Philip Rutnam is reported to have accepted a six-figure sum after launching legal action against the home secretary. The department’s former permanent secretary dramatically […]

A union representing senior civil servants said it “cannot be right” that ministers do not face an independent complaints process in the wake of the home secretary bullying row. During an evidence session with MPs, the FDA was asked about the ministerial code following the prime minister’s decision to disregard the findings of Sir Alex […]

Home secretary Priti Patel has said she disagrees with the act of taking a knee as a protest against racism, as she criticised Black Lives Matter demonstrations. Patel described the anti-racism protests – sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, USA, on May 25 last year after a white police officer held him […]

The Home Office has confirmed that the records of more than 15,000 people were wiped from the Police National Computer (PNC) due to a “coding error”. Policing minister Kit Malthouse said that a total of 209,550 offence records relating to 112,697 individuals has been deleted from the PNC last month, which is run by the […]

Priti Patel has denied that she was hypocritical for going on a work trip away from London after criticising social media influencers for using work as an excuse to travel. The home secretary defended the decision to leave London for a meet and greet with police officers, saying it was part of her “statutory duties”. She […]

An SNP MP has asked Priti Patel why she has not quit as home secretary following the revelation she failed to close the UK’s borders back in March. The confrontation occurred during a statement from the home secretary in the Commons. Defending the government’s border strategy, Patel told MPs: “From January 2020 the government has had […]

Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan has caused hilarity after a jibe in which he likened Lorraine Kelly to “Priti Patel with a brain”. Morgan was tipped by the Daily Star to become the UK’s next prime minister, prompting the breakfast show presenter to look for potential ministers in his cabinet. As Kelly said she […]

Independent SAGE member Professor Christina Pagel has criticised Priti Patel’s decision to issue new £800 fines for Covid rule-breakers, calling on the minster to “stop blaming the public”. Prof Pagel told LBC radio she was “so angry” at the announcement and said ministers should instead focus on tightening Covid restrictions than fining people who break them.  “They’ve […]

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has suggested Priti Patel may have broken the ministerial code by advocating border closures against government policy. In comments first reported by political website Guido Fawkes, Patel is said to have told the Conservative Friends of India group: “On ‘should we have closed our borders earlier’, the answer is yes. I was […]

Home secretary Priti Patel has claimed that she argued for the UK border to be shut to international visitors in March when the pandemic first emerged. In comments first reported by political website Guido Fawkes, Patel is said to have told the Conservative Friends of India group: “On ‘should we have closed our borders earlier’, […]

Priti Patel has shrugged off suggestions Downing Street is to blame for Britain’s high Covid death toll, saying now is not the time “to talk about mismanagement”. The home secretary said there were “a range of reasons” for the UK’s appalling death toll but said it was not right to draw attention to them at the moment. […]

Piers Morgan has urged Priti Patel to resign after 400,000 criminal records disappeared from the national crime database. The home secretary has come under mounting pressure to take responsibility for an error that led to hundreds of thousands of police records being deleted from UK-wide databases. Data was wiped from the Police National Computer (PNC) – which […]

Susanna Reid has taken on the home secretary over the government’s attempts to blame the public for a rise in cases of coronavirus over Christmas. The Good Morning Britain host saw red after hearing Priti Patel claimed the government had discouraged mixing over the festive period. Co-presenter Piers Morgan kicked off the debate by telling […]

Labour has criticised Priti Patel for failing to attend the House of Commons to answer questions on the loss of hundreds of thousands of records from a police database. A significant number of fingerprint, DNA and arrest history records were lost due to human error and defective code. Initially, some 150,000 records were believed to have […]

Few politicians come with a reputation as controversial or fierce as Priti Patel’s. Ian Birrell talks to insiders to find out what lies behind that uncompromising image. Soon after Tony Blair won his second landslide election victory, the Daily Telegraph interviewed five women to ask why they wanted to become MPs for the stale, male and moribund Tory […]

Home secretary Priti Patel appeared to spark more confusion with an appearance on This Morning alongside Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby. The minister appeared confused about coronavirus rules once more as she stressed the importance of exercising alone. The guidance makes clear that in England someone is allowed to exercise outdoors with one other person from […]

Home secretary Priti Patel has said that “outdoor recreation” is permitted in a “restricted and limited way” – despite it being prohibited during the lockdown. Moments after insisting the coronavirus rules are “actually very simple and clear”,  Patel apparently misspoke during a Downing Street press conference when trying to explain that exercise is permitted. She […]

Television and radio presenter Graham Norton has criticised home secretary Priti Patel – claiming “it’s extraordinary she’s in charge of anything”. The chat show host and Eurovision commentator lambasted the Tory minister, along with Boris Johnson, comparing Patel to a lunch monitor. Asked by the Sunday Times to give three words to sum up Boris Johnson, […]

Home Secretary Priti Patel will host a Downing Street press conference at 5pm, her first since May last year. This would be the first time Patel addressed the nation since May 22. During a previous appearance in April, Patel drew criticism for refusing to apologise for reports of failure to provide PPE to frontline NHS […]

A senior Tory MP has criticised Priti Patel’s “inhuman” approach to immigration. In an interview with the Independent, former minister Caroline Nokes accused ministers of “paying lip service” to Wendy Williams’ Lessons Learned report on the Windrush scandal, which occurred while she was in office. The Tory MP for Romsey and Southampton North said ministers […]

Home secretary Priti Patel has faced a torrent of criticism after failing to boldly denounce Donald Trump over inciting riots in the US capital overnight. Patel avoided Trump’s name in her condemnation of the riots despite the president having instructed protesters to march on the capital. Sky News’ Niall Paterson caught the minister out, telling her […]

Home secretary Priti Patel has been accused of leaving the “nation’s doors unlocked” to alarming new coronavirus variants amid calls to strengthen border protections. Ministers were considering introducing a requirement for international arrivals to have a negative coronavirus test before travelling to Britain in order to tackle surging cases. But Labour joined some senior Tory MPs […]

Home secretary Priti Patel insisted the Brexit deal will help make the UK safer, despite police chiefs’ concerns about lack of access to a key EU information database. The deal allows the two sides to co-operate on security and policing issues, but Brussels said the UK will no longer have “direct, real-time access” to sensitive […]

Home secretary Priti Patel appeared to admit in television interviews that the numbers of lorries stuck in Kent waiting to cross to France is far greater than the numbers quoted by transport secretary Grant Shapps. More than 40 countries have banned flights from the UK due to a mutant variant of coronavirus spreading through the […]