UK: Opposition calls for Priti Patel’s resignation after secret meetings with Israeli officials
The international development secretary reportedly did not disclose plans to consider giving British tax payers’ money as aid to the Israeli military.
British Cabinet Minister Priti Patel’s political future was in doubt on Wednesday following fresh calls for her resignation from the Opposition, BBC reported.
Prime Minister Theresa May ordered Patel to cancel a scheduled tour to Africa and return to London amid speculations that the international development secretary may be sacked for holding a series of undisclosed meetings in Israel earlier this year. Political analysts said that Patel’s sacking was now “almost inevitable”.
On Monday, Patel had apologised for holding 12 meetings in Israel in August. However, reports allege that there were more meetings in September that were not disclosed.
Patel had reportedly not informed the government of plans to consider giving tax payers’ money to Israeli military to treat wounded refugees in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights region.
The British Opposition sought an investigation into the matter and said that there were “strong grounds” to believe that Patel carried out many breaches and did not act in a transparent manner. “It is hard to think of a more black and white case of breaking the ministerial code,” Labour’s Kate Osamor said. “It is time the secretary of state either faces a Cabinet Office investigation or does the decent thing and just resigns.”
In August, Patel had met many Israeli leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and officials from the country’s foreign ministry during a personal holiday to the country.
“In hindsight, I can see how my enthusiasm to engage in this way could be misread, and how meetings were set up and reported in a way which did not accord with the usual procedures,” Patel had said in a statement on Monday. “My first and only aim as the secretary of state for international development is to put the interests of British taxpayers and the world’s poor at the front of our development work.”