Priti Patel

Priti Patel      ( politician)
Born	Priti Sushil Patel 1972-03-29  London,  England
Alma mater	•  Keele University •  University of Essex
Children	1
Spouse	Alex Sawyer
Member of	Cornerstone Group
Party	Conservative, (before 1995/since 1997), Referendum Party, (1995–1997)
Breached the ministerial code through her interference in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict  Shadow Foreign Secretary  In office 4 November 2024 - Present Appointed by Kemi Badenoch  UK/Home Secretary In office 24 July 2019 - 6 September 2022 Appointed by Boris Johnson Preceded by Sajid Javid Succeeded by Suella Braverman  UK/Secretary of State for International Development In office 14 July 2016 - 8 November 2017 Appointed by Theresa May Preceded by Justine Greening  UK/Minister of State for Employment In office 11 May 2015 - 14 July 2016 Appointed by David Cameron  UK/Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury In office 15 July 2014 - 11 May 2015 Appointed by David Cameron Preceded by David Gauke Succeeded by Damian Hinds  Member of Parliament for Witham In office 6 May 2010 - Present

Dame Priti Sushil Patel is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Witham in Essex since 2010. She was appointed Shadow Foreign Secretary in November 2024.

In December 2021, journalist and former MP Martin Linton reported:

"Priti Patel's Israel links undermined British diplomacy in the Middle East."

Friend of Israel

Priti Patel has been a fervent supporter of Conservative Friends of Israel ever since she was elected to Parliament in 2010. She was present at a private meeting in 2012 where backbenchers harangued Foreign Secretary William Hague for being under the thumb of a “pro-Arabist” Foreign Office. Patel was one of the new Conservative MPs at that meeting and urged the Foreign Secretary to be “more critical of the Palestinians”.

Proscribing Hamas

Priti Patel was Home Secretary in Boris Johnson's administration between July 2019 and September 2022. In her speech to the Heritage Foundation in Washington DC on 19 November 2021, Patel announced:

"Today the UK government has laid an order in Parliament to proscribe Hamas in its entirety - including its political wing.

"Hamas has significant terrorist capability, including access to extensive and sophisticated weaponry as well as terrorist training facilities, and it has long been involved in significant terrorist violence.

"Hamas commits, participates, prepares for and promotes and encourages terrorism. If we tolerate extremism, it will erode the rock of security."

Patel’s decision to proscribe Hamas was welcomed by Israel and Jewish groups in the UK. Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett thanked Boris Johnson ‘for your leadership’ while foreign minister Yair Lapid called it ‘an important and significant decision’ that would help ‘prevent the continued build-up of the Hamas terror organisation’ in Britain and elsewhere. The Board of Deputies of British Jews said it was ‘immensely grateful’ to the government for ‘ending the dangerous loophole’ which allowed Hamas to ‘spread its extremist poison here and raise funds and support in the UK’.

But Oxford professor Avi Shlaim asked, “Why was the latest anti-Palestinian policy shift announced by the Home Secretary rather than the Foreign Secretary?”

Secret meetings in Israel

On 8 November 2017, Priti Patel was forced to resign as Secretary of State for International Development after revelations that she had been involved in secret meetings with the Israeli government. On 3 November 2017, it was revealed that Patel had held meetings in Israel in August 2017 without informing the Foreign Office. Patel had described the trip as a family holiday in Israel but it later transpired that her holiday had been organised by CFI honorary president Lord Polak who personally arranged 12 meetings for her, including one with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, as well as a trip to the Israeli occupied Golan Heights.

Patel also met Yair Lapid, the leader of Israel's centrist Yesh Atid party, and reportedly made visits to several organisations where official departmental business was discussed. The BBC reported that "According to one source, at least one of the meetings was held at the suggestion of the Israeli Ambassador to London. In contrast, British diplomats in Israel were not informed about Patel's plans."

It was also reported that, following the meetings, Patel had recommended that the Department for International Development give international aid money to field hospitals run by the Israeli army in the Golan Heights.

Cutting Palestinian aid

In October 2016, Priti Patel, ordered a review of the funding procedure and froze about a third of Britain’s aid to the Palestinians while the review, undertaken in close collaboration with the Foreign Office, was carried out. In December 2016, the Department for International Development (DIFD) announced that although Britain would continue to fund the Palestinian Authority, there would be certain crucial changes. In future, DIFD said, its aid would go “solely to vital health and education services, in order to meet the immediate needs of the Palestinian people and maximise value for money."

Simon Johnson, Chief Executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, said:

“We welcome this sensible move by the Department for International Development to concentrate aid where it is most needed. It must be robust in ensuring funds are used to help those in need, such as for health and education, and kept away from those who seek to use the money to cause harm.”

Conservative Friends of Israel Honorary President Lord Polak also welcomed DfID’s announcement, saying:

“After years of campaigning against the Palestinian Authority’s abuse of international aid to fund the salaries of prisoners convicted of terror, today’s announcement is welcome news from DfID. With the redirection of aid to education and health, the ability of the Palestinian Authority to abuse this funding to reward terror is significantly reduced and the money will now go to those most in need. It is clear that the Secretary of State for International Development, Priti Patel, is taking concerns seriously, and it is now essential that DfID rigorously scrutinises the PA to ensure it is no longer misusing British taxpayers’ money. We also call on DfID to continue looking into allocating aid to vital coexistence projects which lay the groundwork for peace.”

Paul Charney, chairman of the Zionist Federation, welcomed the change in approach. He said:

“The scandal of salaries for terrorists has been an issue that the Zionist Federation has campaigned on for a long time. Over the years, thousands of emails were sent to politicians – all of which were rebuffed by an apparently impenetrable shield of denial. Today’s dramatic shift in funding priorities means that finally DFID is acknowledging that there is a fundamental problem with the Palestinian Authority’s lack of accountability and support for violence. It remains to be seen if UK taxpayer money will make its way to the intended targets – doctors and teachers. But this is an important change in the UK’s attitude towards Palestinian aid, and we hope it will contribute to a change in the PA’s attitude as well.”

Background

Priti Patel was born in London to a Ugandan Indian migrant family. Educated at Keele University and the University of Essex, she was a member of the Conservative Party in her youth, became involved with the Referendum Party and then switched her allegiance back to the Conservatives. She worked for the public relations consultancy firm Weber Shandwick for several years, as part of which she lobbied for the tobacco and alcohol industries. Intending to switch to a political career, she unsuccessfully contested the Nottingham North seat at the 2005 General Election.

Political career

After David Cameron became leader of the UK Conservative party, he recommended Patel for the party's "A-List" of prospective parliamentary candidates. She was first elected MP for Witham, a Conservative safe seat, at the 2010 General Election, and was re-elected in 2015 and 2017. Under Cameron's government, Patel was appointed Minister of State for Employment.

A longstanding Eurosceptic, Patel was a leading figure in the Vote Leave campaign during the build-up to the 2016 EU Referendum. Following Cameron's resignation, Patel backed Theresa May as Conservative leader; May subsequently appointed Patel as International Development Secretary. She returned to the backbenches in November 2017.

Death penalty

Upon Priti Patel's appointment as Home Secretary in Boris Johnson's cabinet in July 2019, the media reminded us that in a September 2011 episode of BBC Question Time she had called for the return of capital punishment as a “deterrent”:

“I do think that when we have a criminal justice system that continuously fails in the country and where we have seen murderers and rapists … reoffend and do those crimes again and again I think that’s appalling.

"On that basis alone I would support the reintroduction of capital punishment to serve as a deterrent.”

Fellow guest and Private Eye editor Ian Hislop took apart her argument, saying the inaccuracy of sentencing in the UK would mean innocent people would be killed by the state:

“It’s not a deterrent if you kill the wrong people.”

In 2016 she said she had changed her mind and no longer believed capital punishment should return to Britain.

COVID masks scandal

On 14 May 2021, the Daily Mail reported that Home Secretary Priti Patel was in 'glaring and flagrant' breach of the Ministerial Code by lobbying Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove in April 2020 over a £20million contract for surgical masks for Pharmaceuticals Direct Ltd (PDL), after an approach from her former Special Adviser Samir Jassal.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock decided the masks were 'not suitable for the NHS' but within weeks PDL was awarded a no-bid, no-competition deal worth £102.6million to supply a better type of mask.

Tweet on Patel speaking about COVID-19:

"It's meaningless drivel. She might as well have given the weather forecast, it would have been more useful."

 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Munich Security Conference/2025	14 February 2025	16 February 2025	Germany Munich Bavaria	Annual conference of mid-level functionaries from the military-industrial complex - politicians, propagandists and lobbyists - in their own bubble, far from the concerns of their subjects
UK/Parliament/Voted YES to vaccine passports in 2021	4 December 2021	4 December 2021	British House of Commons	These members of the UK Parliament voted YES to the introduction of a "vaccine" passport in 2021

 

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References

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