Priti Patel: Home secretary said bullying ‘not type of leadership anyone should sanction’ in resurfaced tweet

Twitter users flag up 18-month-old tweet after bullying investigation published

Priti Patel, who has just been condemned in an official investigation for bullying her own officials at the Home Office, last year criticised those who “resorted to bullying and intimidation” in a tweet.

The home secretary has escaped any formal sanction from the prime minister, despite his adviser on ministerial standards concluding in a report that instances of her past behaviour in the Home Office “would meet the definition of bullying” but could have been “unintentional”. 

In a tweet last spring amid furious Conservative infighting over Theresa May’s proposed Brexit deal, Ms Patel, who was then a backbencher not in cabinet, decried those who bullied others.  

“Resorting to bullying & intimidation is not the type of the leadership or behaviour anyone should sanction or endorse,” she said in a tweet replying to a journalist’s suggestion Ms May was considering stripping the whip from her rebel MPs.  

“In an era where political conviction is ridiculed for the comfort of conformity & compliance, its a shame such little respect is shown to the views of others,” Ms Patel’s tweet added.  

Dozens of social media users have flagged up the 18-month old tweet today after the bullying inquiry into the home secretary was partly released.  

Others noted the irony the bullying scandal – which was prompted by the resignation of the top civil servant in the Home Office in March over claims he had been forced out by anonymous briefing against him to the press – erupted again during Anti Bullying Week 2020.

However, dozens of her parliamentary colleagues have also taken to Twitter to offer her support, arguing she was “tough” and “robust”, but not a bully. It has been reported the flood of tweets backing the home secretary followed Mr Johnson sending a message to Tory MPs asking them to “form a square” around Ms Patel.  

Mr Johnson’s ethics advsier, and chair of the report into the bullying allegations, Sir Alex Allan, resigned on Friday after the prime minister ruled that Ms Patel should not lose her job over the allegations.