Priti Patel RESIGNS as International Development Secretary after secret Israeli meetings revealed
She became the second cabinet minister to quit in just a week - after she admitted that her actions had caused a 'distraction' to Government
PRITI Patel tonight became the second Cabinet minister to resign in a week - after misleading furious Theresa May over secret meetings with senior Israelis.
The PM hauled her International Development Secretary back from an Africa visit at dawn this morning - after just 12 hours there - when yet more damaging revelations emerged over her shifty dealings.
The departure ends a six day storm about Ms Patel’s rogue foreign policy freelancing, which broke an array of strict ministerial rules.
It is another bitter blow to Mrs May’s rocking minority government.
Livid Tory MPs demanded the PM get a grip on her ever more chaotic Cabinet – battered by repeated scandals, from sex sleaze to Iran gaffes.
Exactly seven days ago to the hour, Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon was pushed out for touching up women and crude sexual remarks to them.
Downing Street had defended 45 year-old Ms Patel against spiralling demands she be fired, with the PM first letting her off on Monday with a severe reprimand for meeting 12 senior figures in Israel while “on holiday” in August.
But the final straw came late on Wednesday night, when Ms Patel confessed to a 13th secret meeting, with Israel’s Security Minister inside the House of Commons itself on September 7.
Challenged by Mrs May during their showdown on Monday in No10, Ms Patel has assured her that no more had taken place.
While insisting she had acted “with the best of intentions”, Ms Patel accepted in a letter to the PM tonight that her Israeli dealings “fell below the standards of transparency and openness that I have promoted”.
Going quietly without a fuss, the 45 year-old - known for her punchy style - added: “I offer a fulsome apology to you and to the Government for what has happened and offer my resignation”.
In her letter of reply, the PM made it clear to Ms Patel that she would have fired sacked her if she had not already jumped.
Mrs May told the MP for Witham “it is right” she went, “now that further details have come to light”.
But the PM also paid tribute to her, saying: “You rightly take pride in being the first British Indian Cabinet Minister”.
On top of misleading the PM, Ms Patel was also accused of;
- Trying to rewrite foreign policy by looking at giving aid to the Israeli Army to help Syrian refugees in the Golan Heights - whose occupation the UK has opposed for 50 years,
- Again appearing to break the ministerial code by holding the two further unauthorised meetings she had kept hidden from the public, including one in New York on September 18,
- Allowing prominent lobbyist and Tory networker Lord Polak to be present at all 14 meetings when sensitive government policy could have been discussed.
In yet further damaging revelations for Ms Patel, it was also reported that she visited an Israeli military field hospital in the Golan Heights during her August visit – a strict breach of British diplomatic protocol.
It emerged today that Israeli security minister Gilad Erdan even posted a photo of him and Ms Patel during their illicit meeting on the terrace of the House of Commons on social media.
Allies of Theresa May have accused Ms Patel of cosying up to the senior Israelis as part of a future Tory leadership bid which she has been long planning.
And they claim her ill-fated Israel trip was to build her profile among potential backers.
Timeline of a scandal
How the furore around Priti Patel’s undisclosed meeting with Israeli officials unfolded:
August 13: Priti Patel flies to Israel with her family for "a holiday".
August 14-24: Patel holds 12 different meetings with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, his Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, other politicians, NGOs and charities, accompanied by prominent Tory networker Lord Polak - unauthorised by No10.
August 25: Patel flies back to the UK.
September 7: She again meets Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan in the House of Commons, also accompanied by Lord Polak - unauthorised by No10.
September 18: Patel meets Israeli diplomatic service boss Yuval Rotem for breakfast in New York - unauthorised by No10.
November 2: PM Theresa May meets Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu in No10 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration
November 3: The BBC reveals that Patel held the illicit meetings during her Israel holiday. Ms Patel tells The Guardian that Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson knew about her meetings, suggesting they had been signed off in advance, stunning No10 who were in the dark about them all.
November 6: Patel is summoned to No10 for a severe dressing down from the PM, who reminded her "of the obligations which exist under the ministerial code" - but is saved from the sack. She releases an official statement detailing her itinerary in Israel, admitting Boris did not know about the meetings in advance and apologises that that they “did not accord with the usual procedures”.
November 7:
08:00 - BBC reports Patel discussed giving British taxpayers' aid cash to the Israeli Army to help refugees in the Golan Heights, which is not recognised by Britain as Israeli territory.
10:00 - Patel takes an earlier flight to Africa, angering MPs for avoiding their summons for her to come to the House of Commons
22:30 - The Sun reveals that Ms Patel held the two further meetings in Parliament and New York, on September 7 and 18.
November 8:
07:00 - No10 orders Patel her to come back to London from Kenya.
10:00 - Israeli newspaper Haaretz reveals Patel broke diplomatic protocol by visiting the Golan Heights.
15:30 - Patel arrives back at Heathrow ahead of meeting with PM in No10
18:30 - Patel arrives at No10 for crunch talks with Theresa May
19:00 - Patel resigns as International Development Secretary
A senior No10 source told The Sun: “Priti was given every chance to save her job. We have gone out of the way to help her.
“But you simply cannot expose and embarrass the Prime Minister like that.”
In scenes bordering on farce, Ms Patel was due to board a flight from Nairobi on to Entebbe in Uganda first thing this morning.
But even her own DFID staff had no idea whether she would be on it until the last minute.
Instead, Ms Patel was ordered by No10 to take a Kenya Airways flight back to Heathrow, abandoning her join visit with International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and leaving him to carry it out alone.
By the time her commercial airliner touched down just before 3.30pm, a media storm was raging and two TV news helicopters tracked her official limo all the way back to Whitehall.
Ms Patel slipped into No10 via its back door at 6.17pm tonight.
But she was forced to wait 13 minutes, as the PM finished her regular weekly audience with the Queen in Buckingham Palace.
She left via the back door after the 30 minute meeting.
Ms Patel’s replacement will be announced today, but Mrs May is again expected to carry out another “precision” reshuffle of just two or three moves to limit any more government disruption.
Few Tory MPs were willing to defend Ms Patel today.
One was former party chairman Sir Eric Pickles who he hoped I hope they can sort this out over a cup of tea.”
Sir Eric added: “I cannot imagine there would be this kind of fuss if she had met various people of influence in Belgium”.
The Jewish Chronicle today claimed that No10 had known about Ms Patel’s Israeli meetings all along.
Suggesting the sacked minister might have been framed, the newspaper also claimed No10 ordered her to hush up the subsequent two meetings in London and New York.
But the PM’s aides adamantly denied the claims, instead insisting that it was Ms Patel and DFID’s own decision not to publicly disclose the September 18 meeting on Monday.
Lobbying Lord at the heart of Patel's secret meetings
THERE has been much anger at the fact Stuart Polak was at Priti Patel’s side for her secret meetings with Israeli officials, and not a single civil servant, but just exactly who is he?
The Conservative politician and member of the House of Lords was the director of the powerful Conservative Friends of Israel lobbying group for 26 years until 2015.
He nurtured it into one of the biggest lobbying groups in Westminster, developing powerful contacts and influencing Middle East policy, and is now its honorary president.
A veteran political operator, he once told the Jewish Chronicle: “I’m as ambitious as the next man.
“But I’m motivated more by a sense of duty.”
He began his career as a United Synagogue youth officer in Edgware, but is currently chairman of the advisory board of TWC Associates, a strategic consultancy firm.
He denies being a lobbyist, but a TWC partner has previously admitted the company takes the concerns of its clients to Tory and Labour MPs.
And one of its clients - Israeli defence company Elbit Systems - was caught in 2012 saying it had “piggy back[ed]” on Conservative Friends of Israel to “gain access to particular decision-makers”.
As well as being awarded a CBE for political service in the 2015 New Year Honours later that year he was ennobled, taking the title Baron Polak of Hertsmere as a life peer.
A No10 spokesman said: “It is not true that the Prime Minister knew about the International Development Secretary’s meeting with PM Netanyahu before Friday 3rd November.
“It is equally untrue to say that No 10 asked DfID to remove any meetings from the list they published this week.”
Labour’s Shadow International Development Secretary Kate Osamor said: “After initially denying the allegations, then repeatedly changing her story and failing to disclose all of her meetings, it is right that she has now resigned.
"But we still need to know what was discussed in these meetings and what Number 10 and the Foreign Office knew and when”.
