THE top civil servant at the Home Office resigned today after a high-profile bust-up with Home Secretary Priti Patel.
Sir Philip Rutnam said there was an “vicious and orchestrated campaign” against him and he will sue the government for constructive dismissal, the BBC reports.
3
It comes after a weeks of reports of clashes between Ms Patel and the the £175,000-a-year mandarin.
The Home Secretary was accused of “bullying staff” – which she denied – and reportedly demanded Sir Philip be moved to another department.
It was also claimed Ms Patel ordered Sir Philip to sack a senior official on Christmas Eve and he refused.
The Sun revealed last night the clash erupted after he warned the Home Office will struggle to deliver major Brexit tasks on time.
But his warnings infuriated Ms Patel, who sees him as “the new Philip Hammond Eeyore”, her friends say.
Sir Philip told the BBC: “I have this morning resigned as permanent secretary of the Home Office.
“I take this decision with great regret after a career of 33 years.
“I am making this statement now because I will be issuing a claim against the Home Office for constructive dismissal.
“In the last ten days I have been the target of a vicious and orchestrated briefing campaign.
“It has been alleged that I have briefed the media against the Home Secretary.
“This along with many other claims is completely false.”
He is the third senior civil servant to leave the Home Office since Boris ally Ms Patel took charge in July.
The department has been tasked with devising a new points-based immigration system, a border inspection regime and a settlement scheme for EU citizens by the end of 2020.
It is also drawing up complex new rules on cooperating with EU nations on crime and intelligence after the end of the transition period on December 31.
One senior figure said: “Philip is concerned by the risk of so much happening at once, some of which is very tricky. Ministers need officials to deliver a thousand and one things.
“And on top of the Brexit tasks there is also the day job of counter terrorism, organized crime, policing and drugs.”
But Ms Patel’s allies hit back, dubbing Sir Philip “a classic, old school establishment mandarin” who is overly cautious.
One said: “He is very good at blocking things without saying it. It is never a flat out no, just lots of ‘ooh minister, that’s very courageous’.”
An insider called it “a big clash of cultures, a risk manager versus a radical reformer”.
Public school educated Sir Philip, 54, had been permanent secretary since April 2017.
Amber Rudd’s friends blamed him for her having to resign as Home Secretary over the Windrush scandal.
In 2018 he sparked outrage by saying he wasn’t an “expert” on immigration as he sidestepped MPs’ questions on Commonwealth subjects being wrongly deported.
He later emailed staff and said he was “proud” of how they handled the fiasco despite a report damning their failings.
3
3
