Priti Patel Doing Her Job

[Flaxmeadow]

Priti Patel, our Home Secretary, has been photographed attending the arrest of suspected people traffickers in London . Great you would think, the prosecution of organised crime, modern day slavery being rooted out and made an example of.

Yet ATM on SM there are masses of comments where Priti Patel is being described as a Nazi, Goebbels, evil bitch, ugly faced cow, Fascist, concentration camp guard, child murderer, and so on. She is even being criticised for her shoes, the type of footwear many South Asian heritage women wear. Also accused of masturbating (she has her hands in her pockets in the photo)

Most of these comments are from men. Why so much hate for a woman doing a tough job?

@AssassinatedBeauty

Regarding the interest in shoes, one of the police officers pictured leading an arrested person away is in plain clothes and is wearing trainers, not safety shoes. Patel has done this sort of thing before and seems to either wear gold trainers, or gold slip ons like the ones she wore this time. Both seem like sensible choices in her preferred colour. It is a bizarre detail to focus on.

Are you absolutely certain they weren't Safety Trainers? They are a real thing - DP has a pair that look like Converse, but they're exactly the same standard as my work boots, and you can get ones that just look like standard trainers - the only clue if you know what you're looking for is the shape of the toebox.

Slip on shoes of any kind are definitely not appropriate wear for a Line of Duty style photo op, though, whatever the colour or whoever the wearer is.

People seem more outraged by the photos she posted, than they are about the people trafficking gangs.

Why is it when she attempts to raise awareness about these exploiters of human beings, these slavers, she is piled on?

As she has pointed in the past and more recently on Womens Day, many of the victims of these type of criminal networks are women and girls. But no, she wore the wrong shoes, has the wrong facial expressions, is posing for photo opportunities.

Apart from anything else, at least she is raising awareness. I don't see many other high profile women doing that

That is so awful

Do we still not have legislation to protect us in the same way other groups are against hate?

I’m surprised if so but only heard snippets on this on the radio

@DdraigGoch

Yet ATM on SM there are masses of comments... This is where you are going wrong OP. Social media (particularly Twitter) is a cesspit. It's full of vitriol with little in the way of rational discussion. In 280 characters, only he (and it usually is males) who shouts loudest gets heard. The ability to politely disagree and respect opposing views is gone. Best avoided.

This is also true

@Devlesko

I'm a woman and agree with their comments. Look at what she is doing to travellers, how racist she is. I can't wish her bad enough tbh, and put a curse on her a couple of months ago, hope it works. Evil woman. HTH

Are you actually mad?

[quote HopeClearwater]@Devlesko get yourself educated if you want to be taken seriously 🙄[/quote]
Agreed. I've seen some silly comments on here but Devlesko's takes the biscuit.

They arrested people traffickers. Great!

@HecatesCatsInFancyHats

I don't share Priti Patel's politics at all, but I'm surprised by the posters raging over a standard political photo opportunity. Ministers do them ALL the time.

Very good point. They do; all the time; all parties.

The level of vitriol on here is quite astonishing.

Devlesko
Flaxmeadow.As much as I hate Pritti Patel I agree with your last post.
Especially the fact it isn't hidden anymore. thanks
And star for pointing this out

But, and please dont take offence at this because none is intended and I understand where you're coming from, but don't you think the Traveller community has its own large portion of patriarchal horse shit going on as well? It's not exactly all up for womens rights is it? I notice that many of the Traveller and Gypsy activists, journalists etc are so often men. Women are kept out, expected to be over cast iron pan, not encouraged to go to school. Tyson Fury pointed this out didn't he

DOH - Just realised I don't recognise the posters with the surprising posts.

I dislike Priti Patel and her politics intensely. I don't think she is a good Home Secretary. However, that does not make me unable to recognise that she is clearly the victim of racist and misogynistic abuse.

It's horrendous to see what female politicians on both sides of the politician spectrum have to put up with. The abuse directed at non-white women is particularly unpleasant.

The actions of the Home Secretary should be subject to robust scrutiny. It sounds like you think any criticism of her or her (bizarre) photoshoot is inappropriate because of her race and gender.

@TheUndoingProject

The actions of the Home Secretary should be subject to robust scrutiny. It sounds like you think any criticism of her or her (bizarre) photoshoot is inappropriate because of her race and gender.

Not at all. I just want the scrutiny and criticism to focus on her actions as Home Secretary, rather than on what she is wearing or what she looks like.

FGS, it was a pure PR opportunity - Priti was an observer, wearing a jacket for the cameras. She had no role whatsoever in the operation, and was only allowed near anything once the fun was over and the area cleared of any danger.

The operation was just one of hundreds carried out by the police every day, across the country. With Tory-decimated numbers, followed by a huge influx of student officers, with no funds to support their development or required infrastructure- trainers, workplace tutors, workplaces, classrooms, vehicles...I could go on.

What she DID do was trivialise the bloody relentless and thankless task the police face on a daily basis.

It'd be nice if she had the slightest care for the people that the evil traffickers bring here. But instead, her department shoves these vulnerable people in a van, takes them into detention and then removes them from the country, denying them the legal advice that they're entitled to, and breaking its own rules.

I'm sure there are a ton of misgynist comments made about her, but I'm sorry, she's cruel and evil.

@Devlesko

I'm a woman and agree with their comments. Look at what she is doing to travellers, how racist she is. I can't wish her bad enough tbh, and put a curse on her a couple of months ago, hope it works. Evil woman. HTH

I'm a woman who dislikes Priti Patel and thinks her policies in general and her treatment of travellers, in particular, is horrific.

I still think calling her a bitch and a cunt and criticising her shoes is as wrong as the sexist and racist abuse that Diane Abbott receives.

It;s possible to criticise Patel and her policies without resorting to misogyny.

I don't see anything wrong with Patel being there - in fact, I think on-the-ground observation and experience is the best way for a home secretary to increase understanding and do their job better.

I also think a lot of the abuse targeted at her from certain sections of the so-called Left is because she's a brown-skinned woman who has dared to be a Tory when everyone knows the Left owns all women and all people who aren't white.

I don't like Patel, I don't like any politician. They're not pop stars to be liked, they're elected to do a job. As home secretary, this is part of her job.

Or it could be nothing to do with the fact she's got brown skin or a woman.

It could be that she's a truly nasty piece of work

I think she's one of the worst politicians we've ever had. Unpleasant person. Dishonest.

and a security risk? She got fired for this shit.

@TheQueef

Hezza liked a bit of showboating yet that was lapped up.

Not by my friends it wasn't. Tosser in a tank. Yet by the standard of todays politicians he is a model of probity and gravitas.

@HecatesCatsInFancyHats

She is meant to be the Home Secretary. That is ; a politician and not a serving police officer. It is disgraceful to involve the police in a blatant political stunt like this. I'm surprised the Commissioner allowed it quite frankly. Even the ghastly Michael Howard wouldn't have done this sort of thing.

Oh, hello Michael Howard doing exactly this sort of thing...

I stand corrected. Something of the night indeed. 🌙. So Howard - another child of refugee immigrants - was every bit as vile. I suppose his many critics , including in the Tory Party, were all horrible antisemite bigots though.

You're still missing the point Abhannmor, the reason there are pictures of Michael Howard taking part in a photo op is because this is what politicians do. Ministers like to be seen engaged with their brief. In this case PP is publicising the trafficking issue. Again, you can criticise her record, but focusing on a standard political photo op is odd.

@saraclara

It'd be nice if she had the slightest care for the people that the evil traffickers bring here. But instead, her department shoves these vulnerable people in a van, takes them into detention and then removes them from the country, denying them the legal advice that they're entitled to, and breaking its own rules.

I'm sure there are a ton of misgynist comments made about her, but I'm sorry, she's cruel and evil.

That's exactly it.

She's not there because the person being arrested is making money out of human misery. She's there to signal to her supporters that her first priority is to stop desperate people being able to find safety in this country.

She's my MP. I couldn't give a toss about her skin colour, shoes or resting face; what I do care about is that she is dishonest, self-serving, callous and really rather stupid. But the civil servants who set up this photo op know exactly what they are doing - there will be plenty of voters who agree with the OP that 'this is what I WANT 'my' Home Secretary to look like' (ie like she's playing the lead in a gritty Netflix drama).

@HecatesCatsInFancyHats

You're still missing the point Abhannmor, the reason there are pictures of Michael Howard taking part in a photo op is because this is what politicians do. Ministers like to be seen engaged with their brief. In this case PP is publicising the trafficking issue. Again, you can criticise her record, but focusing on a standard political photo op is odd.

My goodness, if we had a thread every time Nicola Sturgeon went in for pointless, showboating photo opportunities there wouldn't be room for much else.

And to be fair to Sturgeon ( said through gritted teeth) Boris Johnson isn't far behind.