Boris Johnson under pressure to publish Priti Patel bullying report after inquiry ‘finds she breached ministerial code’

Reports suggest investigation found evidence of home secretary bullying staff but PM not expected to sack her from cabinet

Home Secretary Priti Patel (PA)

Boris Johnson is coming under intense pressure to publish in full a report on bullying allegations against home secretary Priti Patel, amid reports he is poised to issue her with a written warning but allow her to keep her job.

Reports suggested that an investigation has found Ms Patel breached the requirement under the ministerial code to treat civil servants “with consideration and respect”.

Sources close to the inquiry said that it had found evidence of bullying, even if it had not been intentional, according to the BBC.

One person who had seen the draft report was quoted as saying it was "unambiguous in stating that Priti Patel broke the ministerial code and that the prime minister buried it".

The FDA union representing senior civil servants said Mr Johnson had undermined the complaints process by sitting on the report for months after it was completed by his standards adviser Sir Alex Allan, while saying in public that he wanted to “stick with Prit”. 

General secretary Dave Penman called for the establishment of a new independent and transparent system to deal with mandarins’ grievances.

Under the current system, the prime minister is the final arbiter on what sanction should be handed down to ministers, and there is no requirement for him to publish the report.

Labour and Liberal Democrats said the document must be published in its entirety, in order to give voters confidence that any punishment handed down by the prime minister fits the scale of misbehaviour uncovered. 

Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael told The Independent that voters must be able to judge whether a “slap on the wrist” punishment was appropriate.

The home secretary has been under investigation for nine months, following allegations from the former top civil servant in her department, Sir Philip Rutnam, who quit in February complaining of a “vicious and orchestrated campaign” against him. Ms Patel has denied any bullying or harassment of staff at the Home Office or other departments.

Sir Alex’s report is believed to have been passed to the prime minister several months ago. The former head of the civil service Sir Mark Sedwill told MPs earlier this week that it was in Mr Johnson’s hands and it was now a decision for him whether to publish.

The Financial Times reported that Mr Johnson is expected to conclude the process “imminently” by issuing a written warning to the home secretary and asking her to apologise. The paper was told that Mr Johnson was planning to “fudge” the issue despite “robust criticisms” of Ms Patel in the report.

There was no response from 10 Downing Street or the Cabinet Office to requests for confirmation. A Downing Street spokesperson said only: “The inquiry remains ongoing.”

But shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said: “These revelations could not be more serious. This has all the hallmarks of a cover up from the prime minister and raises fundamental questions about his judgement.

“His actions are all but condoning bullying in the workplace. In any other area of life this would not be acceptable. Yet again, it seems to be one rule for them and another for everyone else.

“The report needs to be published in full immediately and both the prime minister and home secretary must come before Parliament to answer questions on this mess.”

 Mr Carmichael has written to the PM demanding the publication of the Patel report “in full and without further delay” and without political interference.

Allegations raised by Sir Philip of Ms Patel “shouting and swearing, belittling people, making unreasonable and repeated demands” would, if proven, amount to a serious breach of the ministerial code, he said. 

Mr Carmichael told The Independent that if the report cleared Ms Patel of any wrong-doing, a case could be made that it would not be reasonable to publish details of the complaints against her.

But he added: “If there is substantial reason to issue a warning to a cabinet minister, then we are in the territory where public confidence demands that we know just how bad the offence was. The public would need to know if this was a slap on the wrist for something which merits a more serious punishment.”

He added: “If the reason for commissioning a report is to get to the truth, then the logical next step is to publish it.

“If the report is not published in full, the working assumption has to be that they initiated the process in the first place in the hope of killing the story. But it hasn’t been killed.”

Any decision by the prime minister at this stage will come under renewed scrutiny when Sir Philip’s case for constructive dismissal comes up before an employment tribunal, he said.

Mr Penman said: "Having pledged his support for the home secretary when the investigation began, and now sat on the report since the summer, (the prime minister) has already undermined confidence in this being a fair and impartial process.

 “Boris Johnson now needs to make the decision to publish the report and commit to introducing a new fully independent and transparent complaints system. This is the only way to restore any kind of faith in the process and prevent this kind of drawn-out speculation in the future, which is unfair to both victims and those accused.”

Civil service union Prospect backed calls for a more transparent system.

Deputy general secretary Garry Graham said: "The process is opaque and does not inspire confidence. This is compounded by the fact that the PM is the ultimate decision maker and clear concerns that their conclusions will influenced by what is politically the expedient thing to do as opposed to what is right."