Priti Patel set to be cleared of bullying charges

PRITI PATEL is set to be cleared of charges of bullying and breaching the ministerial code as an internal inquiry “trawled through lots of material but found no evidence”.

The investigation headed by Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill had been initiated after former Home Office permanent secretary Sir Philip Rutnam raised allegations of hostile conduct against the home secretary.

Some “unnamed sources” had also accused Patel of bullying colleagues during her stints as international development secretary and minister in the Department for Work and Pensions.

On Tuesday (28), The Telegraph reported that the inquiry report had been presented to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was likely to exonerate Patel soon.

“They have looked at all the claims and found nothing,” a Whitehall source told the daily. “They trawled through lots of material but found no evidence.”

Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith trashed allegations of Patel bullying colleagues when he worked with her at the DWP.

“I was categoric in the inquiry that there was no allegation against her, nor was she investigated at the time,” he said.

He also called for a Cabinet Office probe into the mudslinging against the home secretary, The Telegraph said.

Patel’s allies maintained that "dark forces" within the civil service had been trying to malign the home secretary.

Meanwhile, the Labour Party has urged the government to make the inquiry report public.

In a letter to Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove, Labour MPs Nick Thomas-Symonds and Rachel Reeves said: "We appreciate that the country is dealing with an unprecedented challenge in response to the coronavirus and the prime minister's illness, in respect of which we wish him a swift recovery.

"However, it is absolutely vital that the findings of the inquiry are made public as soon as possible.

"At a time when additional powers are being assumed by the government, the imperative that the public are completely assured of the conduct of senior ministers is even greater."

At the time when Patel faced a “tsunami” of allegations in March, Johnson had asserted in the House of Commons that the home secretary was “doing an outstanding job”, and that he was “sticking by her”.