Priti Patel

[Walkaround]

Is it actually possible to unintentionally bully someone? I always thought there had to be some knowledge of abuse of power - it’s supremely difficult to intimidate or coerce someone accidentally. The fact that the people Priti Patel works with as equals- other ministers - are falling over themselves to say how delightful she is to work with, whereas those who work for her accuse her of bullying surely makes it more likely her behaviour is deliberate bullying? Otherwise, her equals would find her to have an frightening, tyrannical demeanour, too!

@Iamthewombat

She probably bollocked a few useless civil servants and they won't have like been spoken to like that by a woman.

This!

If her department refused to support her as reported, if they quietly made her life difficult day in and day out, undermined her - and were quietly prejudiced towards her because of her gender or her colour - then why are we surprised that the same people decide to 'accuse' her of bullying.

And this.

I’m no fan of Priti Patel, but how come she’s getting it in the neck when male ministers who have behaved similarly don’t?

Why is Alistair Campbell (who wasn’t an MP but was one of the prime movers in the Blair government) now wheeled out on TV as a genial old rogue when he behaved ten times worse than Priti Patel? How come he gets away scot free?

I wonder why any woman ever stands for Parliament, if this is what we can expect. Not just that, but posters, women, queuing up to say, “she sounds just like my ex boss, the bitch!”: projecting the perceived sins of other women on to somebody they have never met so that they can proclaim how horrified they are by bullying.

I actually feel quite sorry for Priti Patel, and I never thought I’d say that.

I'm guessing the above is true. Patel may be a bully but she's the wrong type of bully for some of the civil service.

@GetOffYourHighHorse

Think it's funny Labour are all handwringing about this when Jezza has been welcomed back and their own deputy called someone scum in the HOC leading to a barage of verbal abuse, targeting not just MPs but their families too.

Whataboutery...Again! Corbyn isn't a labour MP now and rightly so.

He has & will go through their disciplinary process, if Starmer ignores this, then you may have a point.

You should look up the legal definition of harassment?

Or did she justifiably criticise someone's substandard work and complain loudly in a less than polite way about being left out of the loop re key information. You don't need to shout and swear to criticise someone, in places I've worked in the last 30 years swearing at another member of staff is classed as gross misconduct. If you want to go back to the days when it was seen as OK to behave like that I don't think many people will want to join you.

Civil servants by the very nature of the job do the bidding of ministers. Whoever that is.

And they work really hard to achieve their political masters aims.
Really? Sir Philip Rutnam sounds like the offspring of Sir Humphrey Appleby. Openly obstructing and undermining her.

@GetOffYourHighHorse - Angela Rayner used offensive language, shot herself in the foot and made herself look a fool, and was forced to apologise, but she can’t be sacked for bullying an employee, because the recipient of the abuse doesn’t work for her. If she had used that term on a daily basis to someone employed to work for her, whom she also shouted at and criticised at every opportunity, then I have no doubt the independent adviser who says Priti Patel is a bully would have said the same about her.

As for seeing the actual examples - you sound like a Labour MP yourself, there, given that they are calling for the full report to be published!!!

Why is Alistair Campbell (who wasn’t an MP but was one of the prime movers in the Blair government) now wheeled out on TV as a genial old rogue when he behaved ten times worse than Priti Patel? How come he gets away scot free?

Agree Dexra

www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/short---campbell-is-a-bully-42739

No RTFT but - I don't like Priti Patel given she's a rabid Brexiteer and swearing in a professional context (or indeed on MN) is never a good look.

On the other hand, she's a woman of colour - so double whammy of being female and not being white - so maybe she has struggled to get people to listen at times all the time. She's a popular constituency MP so must be doing something right, I suppose.

Why is Alistair Campbell (who wasn’t an MP but was one of the prime movers in the Blair government) now wheeled out on TV as a genial old rogue when he behaved ten times worse than Priti Patel? How come he gets away scot free?

Because Campbell wasn’t / isn’t a Cabinet Minister found to have broken the Ministerial Code, being supported in defiance of the investigation findings by a Prime Minister who publicly signed off that same code.

This has gone beyond Patel’s bullying issues to Johnson supporting people close to him who believe that they can flagrantly break the rules with impunity. It started with Cummings, has continued with Patel and no doubt will escalate further.

'As for seeing the actual examples - you sound like a Labour MP yourself, there, given that they are calling for the full report to be published!!!'

I couldn't give a rat's ass what I sound like. We clearly need to know context to see if Johnson was right to support her. All these awful comments on here, even mocking her size are rather ironic tbh.

She shouted at someone is all we seem to know. If it turns out it was a targeted thing, an abuse of power then that is different.

@ancientgran

Apart from not making her a coffee what exactly did her department not do that she wanted them to do? What did she do about it? Does she understand if you are head of a department you have to take some responsibility because the buck stops with you?

Plenty of examples of undermining here: www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/03/07/sir-philip-rutnam-declared-war-priti-patel-says-senior-civil/ Sir Philip was the professional head of the Home Office. The buck evidently never stopped with him, despite all of the cock-ups made on his watch.

Oh look, she doesn’t just smirk. Glad to see she is looking hacked off.

@GetOffYourHighHorse - I certainly wouldn’t object to the full report being published. I think it’s clear from the Government’s summary of the report that there was bad behaviour on both sides. I am mightily sick and tired, though, of the macho campaign being waged by those in power in this country, which is deeply toxic. I’m fed up with the threats to break international law, the flagrant flouting of rules (eg Priti Patel again, who has already been sacked once for breaching the ministerial code by holding secret meetings with Israeli politicians), the obvious bullying culture, the pathetic conferences in Rose Gardens to listen to a load of hypocritical, self-justificatory claptrap, the Prime Minister’s apparent inability to tell the difference between honesty and a load of bollocks, and his complete failure to set any standards of decent behaviour. Enough is enough - I have no respect left for any of them.

We clearly need to know context to see if Johnson was right to support her.
The context is that Priti Patel was bullying on demand. She definitely bullied staff, we know this because they said she bullied them, an investigation found she'd bullied staff, she has issued a "Sorry. Not Sorry." apology for bullying.

I am astounded that normally intelligent posters think it's ok for bullying to take place as long as it's a Tory cabinet minister doing it.

Others have been bullies including in the Labour Party, but several wrongs do not make a right.

@Walkaround your last post exactly sums up how I feel. It’s like I’ve walked I to a Marvel comic, where are there definite goodies and baddies and the Tory cabinet are - well - baddies.

Actually maybe it’s one half of a Marvel comic as I’m not sure there are any obvious goodies.

Also her “apology”.

“I’m sorry if...” that’s not a proper apology, Priti.

Honestly she shouted and swore they felt bullied .How many of us have shouted and sworn .

How often do you shout and swear at your colleagues and staff @rwalker?

@laxxy

She's so short I've always had an impression of her as a triple distilled bitch.

Is this the same for all short people?

I don't know if the OP meant short in stature or brusque.

But on the assumption that the former was meant, it's not ok to be heightist. You can't do anything about your height, so don't have a go at people for being short.

@rwalker

Honestly she shouted and swore they felt bullied .How many of us have shouted and sworn .

Not in a professional context. Ever.

But on the other hand, I do think that women get accused of being abrasive and/or bullying in contexts when men would not. And then if you are not white, that is magnified 1000 times - how dare a non-white woman have an opinion.

I suspect she's been a bitch but would have got away with it if she had been a white male.

Who is going to come forward whistle blowing now?
Your not going to.
The mps can behave how the fuck they like with complete immunity

I know someone who recent retired from the Home Office. He say she truly is a nasty piece of work, and it’s well known that she is incredibly thick. Civil servant’ measure of how understandable a document was: ‘will Priti Patel understand it’.

@Busybusybust anyone who blithely makes those comments about Ireland, causing a diplomatic spat with the UK’s nearest neighbour is, as we say at home “thick as two short planks”.

You can just tell she’s thick from the way she speaks.

@Busybusybust

I know someone who recent retired from the Home Office. He say she truly is a nasty piece of work, and it’s well known that she is incredibly thick. Civil servant’ measure of how understandable a document was: ‘will Priti Patel understand it’.

Was your ‘someone’ per chance a white male of a certain age?

She is university educated, your ‘someone’ however doesn’t sound too clever and given his comments probably quite suited to the type of behaviour that has gone on for years in the civil service (in particular the Home Office).