On Wednesday, 8th November, Britain’s first Indian-origin Cabinet Minister Ms. Priti Patel was forced to resign from the Cabinet after she was found guilty of breach of the ministerial code of conduct and then making a statement in a bid to hide the truth. After a media report, P.M. Theresa May summoned her, while Patel was on an official visit to Africa. During the meeting she was reprimanded for misconduct. Her resignation was extracted and accepted immediately. Patel showed no remorse. Instead claimed that she was overwhelmed by the support she received after resignation.
Immediate cause of action is cited her secret meetings with Israel’s P.M. and other leaders without reporting to the Government during her “private visit” to Israel in the month of August. As reported by media, “Ms. Patel’s colleagues have hinted, she hoped to win over the Israel’s lobby and its wealthy donors for a future leadership bid.” The lady of Gujarati origin was over-enthusiast to capture leadership of the party and the Government with the tacit support of Israel lobby.”
Priti Pushpa Patel was born in Britain in 1972. Her parents migrated from Uganda in 1960 shortly before President Idi Amin announced the expulsion of Ugandan Asians. She received high education. The Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (1979-1990) became her political ideal from her childhood. She joined Conservative Party as a teenager, when John Major (1990-97) was Prime Minister. In her checkered carrier she worked in press-offices of certain political and non-political organisations. She also worked as a lobbyist for international Tobacco house and alcohol manufacturing company.
She unsuccessfully entered electoral politics in 2005. Later P.M. David Cameron groomed her in politics. In 2010 general election she was elected M.P. from Witham seat. In 2013 she was drafted into the Policy Unit at P.M. office and was promoted as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury. P.M. Theresa May appointed her as Secretary of State for International Development in July 2016. Patel described herself as being “delighted” despite her suggestion made in 2013 to scrap the Department and be replaced with a Department for International Trade and Development. The members of the department were concerned of her appointment, both because of her support for Brexit and because of her longstanding scepticism regarding international development and aid spending. This means that instead of following principled approach, she was after position. “Mail Online” pointed out other irregularities as “Priti Patel’s husband Alex Sawyer is being paid £25,000 to run her office. He also works as a marketing consultant and as a Conservative local councillor. His role at American financial giant Nasdaq is not publicly disclosed, even though MPs’ staff is obliged to declare secondary jobs.”
On Friday, November 3rd, 2017, the BBC’s Diplomatic correspondent James Landale broke the news that Patel had held meetings with the leaders and officials in Israel during her “private visit”. Though the meetings were planned, but she is alleged not to report the Foreign Office, headed by Boris Johnson. But she claimed otherwise. She indicated that the minister was kept in the loop.
The National” reported, “Ms. Patel’s off-the-books meetings with 12 Israelis, include Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.” She was accompanied by Israel’s lobbyist Lord Polak (Honorary President of Conservative Friends of Israel). She paid visits to several organisations where ‘official departmental business’ was discussed. The Minister also flouted official protocol when she headed to the Golan Heights, the Israel’s occupied Syrian territory, escorted by the Israeli army. There she visited an Israeli military field hospital that patches up Syrians, including Al Qaeda-affiliated fighters, wounded in Syria’s civil war. Her activities were a serious violation of government rules requiring careful documentation of each official meeting and reporting the designated authority.”
It was reported, “According to one source, at least one of the meetings was held at the suggestion of the Israeli ambassador to London. In contrast, British diplomats in Israel were not informed about Ms Patel’s plans.”
As ‘The National’ reported, “Afterwards, Ms. Patel pressed for the Israeli army, one of the most powerful in the world, to receive a chunk of Britain’s overseas aid. Meanwhile, she has sought to cut aid to the Palestinians, including vital projects in Gaza. A clue as to how she reached such absurd “humanitarian” priorities is provided in the figure of Stuart Polak, mentor on her Israel ‘holiday’.”
The paper further reported, “Lord Polak has recruited four-fifths of Conservative MPs, and almost every government minister, to a group whose explicit goal is to advance Israeli interests in Britain. The prime minister, Theresa May, is regarded as one of Israel’s most fervent supporters in Europe.” The paper commented, “That should be a cause for public indignation – no other foreign state enjoys such unabashed, high-level political support.”
Israel’s lobbies in US, UK and other European countries are so strong that nobody can afford to stand against Zionist regime’s interests. The fear of the hawkish Jewish leadership organisations and messianic Christian evangelicals works wonderful. No one wants to be labelled anti-Semite. Nobody dared to report against Ms. Patel. Her downfall came about because of social media. Israeli officials, like police minister Gilad Erdan, unaware of the secret nature of Patel’s visit, happily Tweeted their photos with Ms. Patel.
The lobbyists, who are rarely identified, have entrenched deep in political systems. Signs of such lobbying are also indicated in India. It is feared that Israel has penetrated deep here also, thanks to close relations of politicians with Zionist leaders. After foreign interference was exposed in US Presidential elections, western states are more concerned about “Russian hackers” and blinded to the influence of Israel’s lobbyists.
The influence of Israel lobby in UK may be imagined by the fact that it took three months to act against Ms. Patel. Initially Patel indicated that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Mr. Johnson had been in the loop from the outset. She said they were made aware of the meetings while the trip was under way. And so the Downing Street initially stood by her, but “subsequent revelations” made her position tenuous.
Even after her resignation, P.M. May was kind enough to her. While Ms. Patel apologised for the “distraction”, the reports on her activities had created from the government’s operation, Prime Minister Theresa May said it was “right” that she had apologised and decided to resign and “adhere to the high standards of transparency and openness that you have advocated.”
On Wednesday, The Guardian reported that sources within her department confirmed further meetings with Israeli officials in September that were also not carried out according to ministerial procedures, including a meeting with Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Minister for Public Security on the House of Commons’ terrace in early September. She also met a foreign ministry official in New York later that month.
Interestingly, she was not questioned for her meetings with Israeli leaders, but for keeping them secret and flouting the code conduct by not reporting to the government. Lesson from the episode is clear. Israel has established strong lobbies to advance Zionist interests world over. And morality has dived down beyond imaginations. However, a miracle occurred during the Barak Obama regime. In spite of all out manoeuvres of Israel, nuclear deal with Iran was accomplished and now Israel is working day and night to undo, what was achieved by the deal.
[The writer is a Delhi based journalist. email: [email protected]]