MI5 denies Priti Patel shut out of intelligence briefings as Home Office civil war deepens

It comes amid ongoing hostilities at the Home Office, with Ms Patel accused of bullying officials

The civil war within the Home Office has deepened after MI5 was dragged into a row over whether the home secretary had been shut out of intelligence briefings.

A security source denied that MI5 bosses were failing to share information with Priti Patel as they “do not trust her”, insisting she received the same briefings as previous home secretaries.

The extraordinary row stems over claims in The Sunday Times that officials had reduced the amount of intelligence given to the home secretary and regularly “roll their eyes” at her interventions.

“The spooks find her extremely difficult to deal with,” a source told the paper. “She doesn’t grasp the subtleties of intelligence. It’s not black and white. They don’t have confidence in her abilities.”

It comes amid ongoing hostilities at the Home Office, with Ms Patel accused of bullying and trying to oust her top civil servant, Sir Philip Rutnam. Her allies believe the claims are being briefed to newspapers by hostile civil servants.

In a highly unusual intervention, a security source, said: “Reports suggesting that the home secretary and MI5 don’t have a strong working relationship are simply untrue.

“The home secretary is briefed daily on intelligence matters in exactly the same way as any previous post holder.

“No information is being withheld. Any reports suggesting otherwise is simply wrong and does not serve public interest.”

A government spokesperson said: “The home secretary and MI5 have a strong and close working relationship, and baseless claims to the contrary are both wrong and against the public interest.

“The home secretary receives the same daily intelligence briefings as her predecessors, and no information is being withheld.”

Home Office staff are said to have accused Ms Patel of belittling officials, taking an angry and aggressive tone in meetings and making unreasonable demands.

The Tory minister reportedly demanded the removal of Sir Philip, the permanent secretary, after he reported concerns over her behaviour to the Cabinet Office.

But a department spokesperson said they had not received any formal complaints and took the welfare of staff “extremely seriously”.

Sir Philip is himself facing criticism over the handling of the Windrush scandal from former home secretary Amber Rudd, who has accused him of being absent during the crisis, the newspaper reported.

The row comes amid wider tensions between Whitehall and the government, centred around the bullish approach of Boris Johnson’s top aide Dominic Cummings.

The former cabinet minister David Davis urged the PM not to conduct Whitehall reform by “firing squad” and said the government should not be making “hit lists” of Whitehall officials after it emerged that No 10 had set its sights on shifting permanent secretaries in several departments.