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!

@Friendsoftheearth - no, you are trying to derail a thread that is about bullying and multiple breaches of the ministerial code.

@Friendsoftheearth

Theresa May is white SJ is male.

Both were able to play to their strengths. PP never stood a chance.

Oh poor her, she's so hard-done-by. Give me a break.

Just to add I've just asked him and he said the Home Office was the one place he worked where he never experienced any hint of racism.

So, Friendsoftheearth, you appear to be saying that she is above all criticism due to the combination of her sex and her ethnicity. How far would she have to go before you felt that she should be held to account? Is there a line that she could cross, or is she beyond reproach?

I am extremely uncomfortable with the idea of anyone being untouchable because they happen to tick certain diversity boxes.

So the racists were OK with SJ because he was male and the sexists were OK with TM because she was white? Is that how sexism and racism works? Funny as my husband has experienced racism even though he is male and I've experienced sexism even though I'm white, do you think the racists/sexists at the Home Office are some sort of special breed that you don't normally come across?

Ok, so now EVERYONE who has a 'difficult job' can use this as a justification to bully.

I will be interested in how the tribunal for Sir Phillip Rutnam's unfair dismissal claim will interpret this.....

I believe the report only outlined one side of the story, and did not acknowledge the innate racism already imbedded in the department. Much of the bias behaviour will have been carefully executed to give no clear indicators of racism. For example: Coffees being circulated to everyone but her, the emails she was not sent (by accident of course) the meetings she was not invited to, a general constant lack of respect, the old boys network that she could be no part of. Need I go on?

It is foolish and naive to imagine that Priti has not been deliberately damaged by racism and sexism during her career, and that she was not the subject of a hateful campaign to get rid of her. Thankfully they failed.

I despair at the optics to young girls wishing to go into a career in politics. It is a bloodbath, funny that.

Dominic Cummings, a white man, was accused of bullying again and again. What I see is a clear pattern of total Prime Ministerial support for bullying behaviour.

ancientgran, I totally agree.

I'm usually the first to shout about racism and sexism when I see it. I have felt the impact of sexism myself, and both my DH and my DD have been victims of racism. I am not prepared to let anyone minimise those experiences by using sex/ethnicity as a get-out-of-jail-free card when someone has behaved badly.

Sexism and racism are real and they are shit. They do not excuse bad behaviour just because the perpetrator happens to be female and/or from a minority ethnic background.

Mumsnet threads are Priti Patel are disgusting and predictable.

Lefties affronted that an Asian woman should dare to be a Conservative. It confuses their bias.

You just crack on with your hate, but I am out of here. I want no part of it thanks. You should feel deeply ashamed if you are taking part in this.

You know as well as I do how hard it must be to get constant death threats and threats to be raped. To be targeted endlessly with racist comments and disgusting insults.

But you ignore it! Lets talk about how it is EVER acceptable for this to happen to our MPS shall we?

And yet you bleat on about a bit of swearing and shouting (despite know many other ministers do this) and think this is the problem?

Seriously time for a reality check. This woman is being threatened with death, and yet we are somehow focusing on this?

The real investigation needs to take place on how we can make life safer and better for our female MPs. The death threats, the insults, the coordinated campaigns designed to damage them. My own MP has had rape threats, and people following her home. It is completely and utterly unacceptable. So if you want to talk about the real story lets bring it on, but I will not be part of a vendetta thread against PP under any circumstances.

I believe the report only outlined one side of the story, and did not acknowledge the innate racism already imbedded in the department. Much of the bias behaviour will have been carefully executed to give no clear indicators of racism. For example: Coffees being circulated to everyone but her, the emails she was not sent (by accident of course) the meetings she was not invited to, a general constant lack of respect, the old boys network that she could be no part of.

Can you point to the evidence of this, please?

I don't dispute that she will have been the victim of racism and sexism at various points in her career. Sadly, that is a fact of life for most women and BAME people in the public eye, and I agree with you that it's terrible. However, the fact that she has probably been a victim of that kind of discrimination does not make her innocent.

Racism and misogyny in the workplace should be challenged and addressed, as should bullying. Two wrongs don't make a right.

Her issues are NOTHING to do with her ethnicity or sex. They have EVERYTHING to do with her odious extreme right political views and her equally unpleasant character.

Have you never heard her speak. ? She is right up there in condescension with Rees-Mogg. (A white, VERY privileged Male) ..

Do not fall in the trap of believing ALL BAME people are made of blameless characters and all white people flawed by virtue of privilege. Some people are just not very nice, especially when they find themselves in a place of power. regardless of being a black, pink, green or white male/female/trans or just plain confused.

Mumsnet threads are Priti Patel are disgusting and predictable.
Lefties affronted that an Asian woman should dare to be a Conservative. It confuses their bias

Personally I don't give a rat's ass about her party or her gender or her skin colour. What I'm 'affronted' by are, for starters, her words about immigration and threats to Ireland of food shortages. And her secret meetings with Israeli officials.

some of this is just illogical.
are you saying that because a minister receives anonymous threats, therefore that justifies him/her in abusing their junior staff, behaving aggressively, insulting them, such that they fear to come in to work.
and / or that if the perpetrator of this behaviour is black and/or female then it doesn't matter, because sexism and racism exists.
on that logic, there would never be a black or female person convicted of anything, or found to be a fault in any tribunal; that they can never be held to account for anything.
isn't that racist/ sexist, as if they are not held to the same standard, as if it is unreasonable to expect them to perform to the same standard.

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.

No one should ever be shouted or sworn at in a professional work environment.

And anyone who does that- irrespective of who they are- should no longer be in that job.

Friendsoftheearth, you do realise that it's possible to be simultaneously concerned about the treatment of women and minorities in public life and against workplace bullying, don't you? It doesn't have to be an either/or choice.

It's terrible that our MPs receive death threats, rape threats, hate mail etc. I personally wrote to my last MP, whose politics I despised, in order to express my concern and solidarity with her on that point, as she was targeted by some deeply unpleasant individuals. This is absolutely an issue that needs dealing with...but it isn't the only one.

We cannot allow ministers in high office to bully our civil servants. It's as simple as that. It's concerning that you think this behaviour should be ignored.

Dominic Cummings is a bully.
Priti Patel is a bully.
Neither statement is racist or sexist, they are comments on patterns of behaviour by people in positions of power.

believe the report only outlined one side of the story, and did not acknowledge the innate racism already imbedded in the department. Much of the bias behaviour will have been carefully executed to give no clear indicators of racism. For example: Coffees being circulated to everyone but her, the emails she was not sent (by accident of course) the meetings she was not invited to, a general constant lack of respect, the old boys network that she could be no part of.

You really don’t understand the position of a Secretary of State in a government department do you. She is in charge. Everyone defers to her. If she says she wants a meeting at midnight then she gets a meeting at midnight.

She is in charge and is responsible for setting the leadership tone

@Friendsoftheearth Seriously time for a reality check. This woman is being threatened with death, and yet we are somehow focusing on this? So are you alleging that the people she bullied have made death threats to her? If some random anonymous person has threatened her how does that justify her bullying her staff at the Home Office.

I believe the report only outlined one side of the story, and did not acknowledge the innate racism already imbedded in the department. Much of the bias behaviour will have been carefully executed to give no clear indicators of racism. For example: Coffees being circulated to everyone but her, the emails she was not sent (by accident of course) the meetings she was not invited to, a general constant lack of respect, the old boys network that she could be no part of.

Yeah OK - so despite this not being the first time ? Poor thing just 'happens' to get accused of the same stuff wherever she works.. ?

I'm in DWP - I have colleagues who complained about her bullying when she was employment minister here. That was like 5 years ago. Same when she was at DFID .. she won't 'learn' to control her behaviour - she has just had it reinforced. Shameful.

Her alt.right views wouldn't be out of place within UKIP, she's pro-death penalty and has pretty racist views on immigration. Anyone who's read the book 'Britannia Unchained' would be pretty shocked on her views on employment/working rights too - she doesn't believe in things like holiday pay and describes British workers as "among the worst idlers in the world". She would much rather see us have a more US outlook on our working practises and this is my number 1 fear about leaving the EU, so many protections for workers will be lost.

So it doesn't surprise me she's a bully just from her views.

There is another cabinet office report, apparently utterly damning. It is the report with all the evidence, witness testimony etc, etc. It will NOT be published. Then there is 2nd report prepared for Johnson about the report which spins the first report as much as possible, and even that report couldn't deny that she was a bully. It seems even that report may not be published. Covering up the cover up.

Apparently though the tory grass roots love her though, those selfish c-vntz have always wanted to jail everyone who isn't them. The fact that they like her for her vile racist hatred is of course not an issue.

Let's not forget that she already had to resign for breaking 'guidelines' previously in an outrageous manner, Yet is now in charge of 'guidelines' for us all as Home Secretary

It's insane that she is getting with this. She is the first minister to break the ministerial code and not been sacked or resigned, I guess means that the code itself is now pointless and you can only be sacked for calling Carrie a silly name. The saddest part of this is that those that voted for the Conservative party in the last election did so sure in the knowledge that this is who they are and how they operate.

Oh please, all this nonsense about everyone deferring to her. Civil servants can be the most obstructive people around, either subtly or overtly, even Blair used to complain about them. I’d like to hear her side of the story. I bet there was a lot of nastiness and racism towards her.

Gosh were they racist and sexist to Blair. It gets everywhere doesn't it.

Luggage- do you work in the civil service or are you just slandering people with no evidence