Priti Patel deserves her own thread

What gets me is the sheer incompetence and naïve amateurism of people who have a huge amount of power, to whom we pay a lot of money and in whom we are expected to trust, but who seem to lack either intelligence, discretion or any moral compass.
Piss ups and breweries spring to mind. (Boris, Hunt, May too) Line em up against the wall

I agree with your general point Maw but what makes these two cases even more egregious is that they concern highly highly sensitive areas of foreign policy - Iran and Israel/Palestine with all the potential for disaster on the world stage.

My money’s on Alistair Burt being promoted when she’s sacked

Apparently she's been ordered to return (from Uganda?) and is on her way back now.
One thought is that she's been trying to get Israeli backing for a leadership bid.
How a minister can have high level meetings with a foreign government without an agenda and briefings from the UK government I can't understand. Definitely very underhand.
Hopefully about to be sacked.

Underhand is a very understated description of her lying, scheming, dangerous, ill judged, arrogant behaviour. - you are being too kind ?

Strange how the Cayman scandals have been knocked off the top news in favour of such a petty indiscretion made some time ago. Has she taken the hit in order to give tax payers something else to be outraged about and to take their minds off the private millions stashed. It would seem that Benjamin Franklyn is wrong... death is certain, but taxes aren't.

Celtic whose ‘petty indiscretions’ are you referring to?

True celtic

I think she is probably about to be sacked. Unfairly perhaps but it will detract from Brexit, Boris, Panama Papers and Sexual Harassment all of which are more important.

I don't think it is unfair because she is more of a loose cannon - but it is a pity that a woman from an ethnic minority has proved to be so incompetent, stupid and naive when she could have been a shining example of what can be achieved.

We can keep it up though cinders

Do you really think it's a 'petty indiscretion' CelticRose?

Don't worry, Cinderdad, the other matters won't go away, this is just a blip, soon to be dealt with and then forgotten.

Sorry Cindersdad
(just a blip)

I agree absolutely Jamila. She is the victim of her own totally unacceptable behaviour and in no way is she being used as a sacrificial lamb. Given how much is swirling around in the political stratosphere it could be argued that everything is a distraction from the prime fact that this government is in complete disarray.

She's not being unfairly sacked at all, Cindersdad. She has committed a massive breach of the Ministerial Code.

The really unfair bit is that May can't sack BJ as he would damage her more if out of the Cabinet than he does in it. That he is hugely damaging the UK's standing in the world is, of course, unimportant. Party + Power comes first every time for tories

You have put my thoughts forward so well Maw. I have begun to think that we need to stratify the way MPs and the government works (PR might actually help with this) and pay those actually running the country (the Cabinet) more so we get better. The constituency MPs do, in most cases, a wonderful job but it is so very different from the cabinet responsibilities. I would also say we need fewer of them "running the country".

We are in a time of change and instead of trying to hold the tide at bay how about letting it clean the beach and then move to a new model.

And Cinders I think it’s really dangerous to try and devise a hierarchy of what is more important. All the issues matter in different ways - having a loose canon cabinet minister who,lies to the PM is very very serious and particulars meddling in such a tinder box as the Middle East

Patel should be sacked right now ( if not sooner).

Matthew Parris calls her "Not-so-Priti Patel" in the Times today.

She is on a plane Lemons. I am sure your wish will be the PMs command when she lands and goes to see her.

I expect we all have a view of what is important Cindersdad, mine would be close to yours but others would no doubt differ. However, I agree with the overall thought that all this running a government in tandem to May's is distracting from the important role of attempting to run the government we have.

I’m losing the plot re PP - it’s now being said that she was told by no 10 do not mention the last two meetings that didn’t take place in Israel. Source is article in Jewish Chronicle so not exactly bias free but still.....

Perhaps worth waiting to hear from others on that one maryeliza. Slightly worrying if her she is disclosing all this to an outside body though.

Did anyone hear Bernard Jenkin this morning saying that Patel hadn’t been sufficiently supported by her civil servants - bloody man is a menace. No doubt he will seek to cast more blame on the civil service as Brexit goes pear shaped.

Well; this is an interesting twist. The Jewish Chronicle is claiming that May knew about Patel's meetings in Israel..

ast night I wrote on the JC site that something didn’t add up about Number Ten’s claim that it had no idea about Priti Patel’s meetings with senior Israelis.

Far from being unaware, Number 10 knew in full about her meeting with Mr Netanyahu, because Ms Patel had discussed it with the Prime Minister in September, prior to the UN General Assembly.,I then discovered this morning that Number 10 had been told by Ms Patel about her meeting with Israeli foreign office official Yuval Rotem in New York and had specifically asked her not to include it.,It is a truism that with most scandals, the real falloutcomes from the cover up.

My revelations today mean that there are some serious questions for Number 10 to answer about who knew what, when – including the PM.

www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/no-10-knew-about-priti-patel-israel-meetings-1.447605