the prime minister has expressed full
confidence in the home secretary pretty
patel
despite a report into claims of bullying
which found that she broke the rules on
ministerial behaviour
it's led to the resignation of the man
who wrote the report sir alex allen
his inquiry looked into allegations
about priti patel's conduct as a
minister
in three different government
departments a former top official in the
home office told the bbc
that she'd been urged not to shout and
swear at staff a month after becoming
home secretary
this afternoon ms patel said that she
was sorry if her behavior had upset
people
deputy political editor vicky young
reports
he's standing by her boris johnson's
taken months to give his verdict on the
home secretary's behavior which an
independent report described as
bullying pretty patel shouted and swore
at staff
but the prime ministers judged that she
didn't break ministerial rules
i asked her what she thought about the
criticisms in the report
are you a bully well i'm here to give a
an unreserved apology today and i am
sorry if i have upset people in
any way whatsoever that was completely
unintentional
and vicky i'll be very candid you know
the work that i do
here in this department and across
government is deeply challenging
so if i have upset people that has been
completely unintentional that was not my
intention
the prime minister's advisor on
ministerial standards has found 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
and to that extent her behavior has been
in breach of the ministerial code
even if unintentionally despite these
findings from sir alex allen the prime
minister has the final say
and has disagreed sir alex has resigned
in overruling his independent adviser
the prime minister's made a
huge political decision downey street
points to what they call
mitigating circumstances the fact that
no one mentioned the home secretary's
behaviour to her at the time
and that she's apologized miss patel's
friends
think she's been the victim of snobbery
and sexism
but some of this has been contradicted
by sir philip ruttenham
he resigned in february as the most
senior civil servant at the home office
so philip how much confidence do you
have in the inquiry
in a statement today he said he wasn't
asked to give evidence
and says he did repeatedly advise ms
patel that she needed to treat staff
with respect
his former department has also been
criticized
for being inflexible and unsupportive
the home secretary says the culture has
now
changed at the time of course it says
this in the report
that you know issues were not pointed
out to me um we were not being supported
obviously in our work but this is a
challenging department
i mean people listening to it will think
that you're that you're making excuses
and actually there is no
excuse for somebody who's in a senior
position to to treat others badly
vicki there are no excuses i'm
absolutely
given an unreserved fulsome apology
today i cannot be
any clearer about that whatsoever but
labour say pretty patel should
resign or be sacked the prime minister
has said that he loathes
bullying and yet today he has
comprehensively
failed a test of his leadership when
he's had a report
on his desk precisely on that issue
so alex allen couldn't have been clearer
that the home secretary has not
consistently met the high standards of
the ministerial code
hanging on to pretty patel will be a
popular decision with conservative party
members
but it will bring mr johnson more
political pain
and rita really has been an
extraordinary day the independent
adviser on ministerial standards has
found that the home secretary's behavior
amounted to bullying not only that but
the prime minister has rejected
that judgment also highly unusual
now the prime minister really has gone
out on a limb to keep pretty patel in
her job
it has thrilled her many supporters but
there are lots of conservative mps who
are
dismayed they worry about the signal
that this sends out
about bullying today boris johnson's
statement said that
he felt that this matter was closed i'm
not sure it is
vicki thank you our deputy political
editor vicky young there at westminster