Bulliying Is Bad, Boris is wrong, Pritti Patel must go

ON ETHICS and IMMATURITY in GOVERNMENT

Sir Alex Allan was the British Government’s advisor on ethics. Until Friday 20thNovember 2020. He has just issued a report criticizing home secretary Pritti Patel’s “behaviour that can be described as bullying” – citing instances of Patel shouting and swearing, and finding that she had breached the ministerial code.

Sir Alex writes: “My advice is that the Home Secretary has not consistently met the high standards required by the Ministerial Code of treating her civil servants with consideration and respect. Her approach on occasions has amounted to behaviour that can be described as bullying in terms of the impact felt by individuals. To that extent her behaviour has been in breach of the Ministerial Code, even if unintentionally.” Unintentionally? Bullying behaviour is never unintentional. Shouting and swearing is a sign of immaturity and lack of control: and if you are the minister, then you are bullying your assistants. If Patel needed have this explained to her, then she is obviously unfit to lead.

Boris Johnson announced that he had full confidence in Patel: he has ignored the bullying, and ignored Sir Alex Allan’s advice. Sir Alex, who also served Johnson’s two predecessors, said: “I feel that it is right that I should now resign from my position as the prime minister’s independent adviser on the ministerial code.” In British etiquette, that is a slap in the face of the PM. Sir Alex refuses to work for a man who condones bullying ..... by allowing a woman to abuse her staff by bullying.

Sir Alex Allan is 70 years old, was the first permanent secretary in the Ministry of Justice, a former High commissioner to Australia, and was until 2011, the chairman of the Joint Intelligence committee and Head of Intelligence Assessment. This not the resignation of a lightweight, nor of some opposition trouble-maker, but of an substantial establishment figure who was principal private secretary to Conservative prime minister John Major for five years (1992-97). He is too good a man to work for Boris Johnson.

The Guardian reports that Downing Street failed to deny that the prime minister tried to persuade Allan to tone down his conclusions and say he could find no clear evidence of bullying. A No 10 spokesman said: “As you would expect, the prime minister spoke to Sir Alex Allan to further his understanding of the report. Sir Alex’s conclusions are entirely his own.” Sir Alex came to his conclusion: he has resigned, showing up Johnson for the weak and cupid man he is.

Allan also appears to be a quintessentially quirky Englishman. Totally discrete as befits his security career, he is said to have been poisoned in 2008 by a foreign power; he certainly spent time in hospital for unexplained reasons. According to Wikipedia, he also windsurfed to work in a suit and bowler hat down the Thames during a train strike.

Boris Johnson then urged Tory colleagues in a WhatsApp message to “form a square around the Prittster”. This sounds like a message from a spoiled brat at Eton College. “The Prittster?” Is this the language of the Prime Minister of Great Britain? This puerile language is an inappropriate response to Sir Alex Allan’s report. No wonder he resigned! Let’s change the PM, and Make Britain Great Again.

Patel later apologized: “I’m sorry that my behaviour has upset people and I have never intentionally set out to upset anyone. I work with thousands of brilliant civil servants every single day and we work together, day in day out, to deliver on the agenda of this government and I’m absolutely sorry for anyone that I have upset.”

Sir Philip Rutnam, who resigned as the Home Office’s permanent secretary after accusing Patel of a “vicious and orchestrated briefing campaign” against him, challenged a claim in the bullying report that she had been given no feedback about her behaviour by civil servants: “As early as August 2019, the month after her appointment, she was advised that she must not shout and swear at staff.” Rutnam has lodged an employment tribunal claim against Patel under whistleblowing laws, claiming he faced constructive dismissal after informing the Cabinet Office of the home secretary’s behaviour. This sort of thing never happens in the British civil service. Boris and his Brexit colleagues are completely losing the plot! They are supposed to be a GOVERNMENT for goodness sake, not a boys’ club throwing darts.

Bullies Both? Two of a kind?

Boris is not looking pritti.

Patel’s reputation for bullying goes back several years: similar bullying accusations were raised at DfID in 2017 when she was Minister for Overseas Development. Enough is enough. Respect is not ‘saying’ but ‘doing’ - people who are unwilling to show respect for their assistants, do not deserve a position of responsibility. Johnson should invite Pritti Patel to join Dominic Cummins and Lee Cain in Barnard Castle, where they can all test their eyesight together. Indeed, perhaps Boris Johnson should join them, leaving the Prime Minister’s chair to be filled by someone more competent, more mature, more responsible.

Time to bring back Mrs Thatcher.

Or even Mrs May.

Theresa May looks competent when compared to Boris.