Boris Johnson news: Priti Patel department facing ‘tropical storms’ amid calls for new bullying investigation, and claims Windrush report watered down

Brexit briefing: How long until the end of the transition period?

Home secretary Priti Patel is facing fresh accusations of bullying, as former ministers and civil servants allege “aggressive” and “vile” conduct when she was in charge of the Department for International Development (Dfid).

The union representing civil servants called for a new process for raising complaints and investigating ministers’ behaviour, while the Home Office’s permanent secretary Sir David Normington said the department was facing “tropical storms”.

It comes as MPs warned Boris Johnson’s government not to water down a report into the Windrush scandal after it was reported a section branding the Home Office “institutionally racist” was stripped out.

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Key Points

• Patel hit by allegations of ‘vile’ and ‘aggressive’ behaviour
• Windrush draft report was ‘watered down’, officials claim
• Tory peer tells critics of ‘genius’ Cummings to ‘shut up’
• Sadiq Khan not voting for Rebecca Long-Bailey
• Civil service union demands process to ‘raise complaints’ about ministers

[21 February 2020 17:00 · Ashley Cowburn]

Is Tony Blair too toxic to shape the future of Labour? - Sean O'Grady

[21 February 2020 17:30 · Ashley Cowburn]

 Cummings’ profile has risen to a height even Boris Johnson may now be uncomfortable with

One of the first rules of politics is that the adviser should never become the story, because if he or she does they probably won’t survive for long, writes political editor Andrew Woodcock.

Every prime minister has one or two close confidantes in their private offices who they rely on for support, ideas and philosophical ballast.

And it is always an obsession of the political press to find out who that person is, what their ideology is and how much influence they really wield.

Claiming that the adviser is the real power behind the throne is a perennial pastime for lobby hacks, whether insinuating that Tony Blair was taking dictation from Alastair Campbell or Nick Timothy shaping Theresa May’s agenda around the municipal radicalism of his hero Joseph Chamberlain.

[21 February 2020 18:00 · Ashley Cowburn]

 Johnson’s new equalities minister abstained from key LGBT+ votes

The government’s newly appointed junior minister for equalities has never voted on equal gay rights or gay marriage in her three years as an MP, it has emerged.

Following Boris Johnson’s reshuffle, Kemi Badenoch is working on policy for women and LGBT+ people – but she has abstained on every Commons vote on the issue.

In July 2019, the Saffron Walden MP abstained from a vote on Northern Ireland’s extensions of “Marriage of Same-Sex Couples” and “Marriage and Civil Partnerships” for same sex people. Both of these successfully passed through the Houses.

[21 February 2020 18:30 · Ashley Cowburn]

Windrush draft 'branding Home Office institutionally racist was watered down

Ministers have been warned not to water down a review into the Windrush scandal after it was reported a portion branding the Home Office “institutionally racist” had been stripped out.

The delayed independent review was commissioned after people who had lived for decades in the UK and were entitled to be here were wrongfully detained or deported to the Caribbean.

The Times reported sources saying the phrase “institutionally racist” was included in an earlier draft of the Windrush review led by inspector of constabulary Wendy Williams but it had subsequently been removed.