LONDON : Priti Patel, Britain’s first Indian-origin cabinet minister resigned as International Development Secretary on Wednesday evening, as the political crisis engulfing the British government intensified.
Hers was the second cabinet resignation within the period of a week, after Defence Secretary Michael Fallon resigned over sexual harassment allegations last Wednesday. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is also facing calls for his resignation over incorrect comments made to a parliamentary select committee over a British-Iranian citizen imprisoned in Iran.
Ms. Patel, 45, resigned after breaching ministerial rules by holding a dozen unauthorized meetings with Israeli officials during a summer vacation, giving a misleading impression about whom she had informed and failing to disclose all the relevant details to Mrs. May.
This new political turmoil is likely to increase speculation about the strength of Mrs. May’s grip on power, and comes at a tense moment in discussions on quitting the European Union, or Brexit. The resignation also follows a series of sleaze and sexual harassment allegations in Parliament, which prompted another cabinet minister, Defense Secretary Michael Fallon, to quit last week, and threatens another.
The litany of accusations against Ms. Patel — who was summoned home from a working visit to Africa — made the minister’s resignation almost inevitable, turning her slow-motion departure from government into a protracted political pantomime.
The progress of Ms. Patel’s return flight from Kenya was monitored by thousands online, and on Twitter, users created a hashtag #Prexit — a reference to Ms. Patel’s support for Brexit.
Television cameras were on hand at Heathrow Airport to catch Ms. Patel’s arrival and her walk to a waiting official ministerial limousine that took her to London and eventually to 10 Downing Street to meet with Mrs. May.
Mrs. May accepted the resignation — rather than firing Ms. Patel — adding that, because “further details have come to light” since a discussion on Monday, it was “right that you have decided to resign.”
