Priti Patel accused of intimidating a third senior official | Politics

Priti Patel has been charged with intimidating a third senior government official while she was secretary of state for international development.

Whitehall sources told the Guardian that the Home Secretary, who was already shaken by allegations that she was intimidating her permanent secretary at the Home Office and help from the Ministry of Labor and Pensions , harassed and belittled staff in his private office in 2017.

The allegations have been denied by sources close to Patel but will increase pressure on Boris Johnson to ask his minister to step down while she is under investigation by the Cabinet Office.

Sir Philip Rutnam, who resigned spectacularly on Saturday as permanent secretary of the Home Office, is suing the government for unfair dismissal, saying that Patel has intimidated and harassed the staff of the Home Office.

It was claimed Tuesday evening that she had also repeatedly harassed and depreciated a staff member in her office at the Department of International Development (DfID).

According to BBCs Newsnight, the Cabinet Office was aware of these allegations and an alleged witness for DfID said that he would be willing to testify before the Rutnams labor court.

A conservative source told the program that members of the public service were attacking Patel because they were trying to foil the government's plans for immigration and the police. Dark forces are trying to influence the findings of a cabinet investigation, the source said.

Rutnam resigned after accusing Patel of orchestrating a vicious campaign against him, of lying about his involvement and of creating a climate of fear in his department.

It was revealed on Monday that another former Patel collaborator received 25,000 payments from the government after a threat of prosecution in which the minister was appointed. According to the BBC, Patel has been charged with yelling for help to get lost and get out of her face.

Patel yelled at the former assistant with an unprovoked assault before removing her from work, according to a BBC report. Legal correspondence claims that the grievor took an overdose of prescription medication soon after the October 2015 incident.

A Patel spokesperson said: The Minister of the Interior completely rejects all allegations made against her.

The latest allegations against the Minister of the Interior came after Prime Minister Dominic Cummings' key aide was charged with fostering a culture of bullying in Whitehall as the details resurfaced surfaced in a case in which he intimidated a mandarin who received a reward.

The senior official received about 25,000 people in January 2013 after a lengthy grievance procedure involving Cummings, who was then Michael Goves Special Advisor to the Department of Education (DfE).

The Labor Party has accused Cummings and Gove of being behind a culture of intimidation of public servants and has demanded that the investigation of Patel be genuinely independent.

Angela Rayner, the fictional secretary of education, said: It is clear that Cummings and Gove had a disturbing track record at (DfE), but now they have positions of responsibility throughout the system.

In light of this week's events, it is more important than ever that we obtain full disclosure of the facts. No investigation will be credible without full transparency, not just on one case but on the whole culture of this government, she said.

Cummings was a Gove counselor in the DfE in 2012 when he was charged with a co-worker bullying the senior aide. A ministerial investigation whitewashed the two men and said no disciplinary action was necessary, but the final judgment made it clear that their conduct had sometimes failed and that their behavior was perceived to be intimidating.

The official filed a complaint in court, first revealed the Observer, where the allegations were said to have been heard in public, but negotiations resulted in a financial agreement.

Another indication of the tensions at Downing Street, Number 10 confirmed that the special adviser who had confronted Cummings because of his wickedness at a recent meeting was leaving the government.

Lynn Davidson, an assistant to Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, was asked to relocate as part of a Special Advisors (Spads) reshuffle in February, government insiders said before publicly berating Cummings for his treatment of assistants.

On February 14, at the weekly Spad meeting, Davidson allegedly criticized Cummings for his approach to government advisers.

The clash came after Sajid Javid radically resigned from his post as chancellor, rather than agreeing to five of his assistants being sacked and their posts absorbed into a new handpicked Spad unit for serve the Treasure and # 10.