We should not be surprised by Boris Johnson’s decision to support Priti Patel – it is all part of a worrying pattern

There is no precedent for a minister staying in their post after breaking the code but, increasingly, Johnson is playing by his own rules and he can no longer blame Dominic Cummings, writes Andrew Grice

Boris Johnson has defended Priti Patel, following allegations of bullying against the home secretary (Reuters)

So much for Boris Johnson’s softer approach to governing after the departure of Dominic Cummings. At least the prime minister has a sense of irony. He used the final day of anti-bullying week to allow Priti Patel to remain home secretary, even though a long-awaited inquiry into claims she bullied civil servants found she had breached the ministerial code, even if “unintentionally”.

There is no precedent for a minister staying in post after breaking the code. So Johnson created one, rejecting the finding of Sir Alex Allan, his adviser on ministerial standards and a widely respected senior Whitehall figure, who promptly resigned as a result.

Johnson brazenly overruled Allan by seizing on the mitigating factors he highlighted – that there was “no evidence that she [Patel] was aware of the impact of her behaviour, and no feedback was given to her at the time”. That is hard to square with well-documented claims of an “atmosphere of fear” at the Home Office. But it opened the door for Johnson to play a diversionary blame game by focusing on Patel’s civil servants. No one has accused any of them of bullying. Patel said sorry for her behaviour, in effect admitting the charge of bullying. Remarkably, that was enough for Johnson to declare the matter closed.