UK Cabinet Minister Resigns Over Secret Israeli Meetings
UK Minister of International Development Priti Patel resigned on November 8, after news broke that she had undisclosed meetings with Israeli officials. Patel secretly met with twelve Israeli politicians, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, during her vacation in August to Israel. These meetings break with the British diplomatic protocol that foreign officials should disclose meetings in advance. According to the Washington Post, Patel initially claimed Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson “knew about the visit,” but was later forced to clarify that he “did become aware of the visit, but not in advance”.
An Israeli newspaper reported on November 8 that Patel visited a military field in the Golan Heights. She then offered to send aid money to the Israeli army to support humanitarian operations in the region, undermining the British policy on Israel. The United Kingdom regards the Golan Heights as illegally occupied by Israel, since Israel captured the territory from Syria in 1967.
After this revelation, members of parliament began demanding her resignation, with Labor MP Jonathan Ashworth saying, “If she didn’t know, she’s incompetent. If she did, she’s lying. Either way she’s got to go”. Prime Minister May then recalled Patel from her trip to Kenya and later that evening, Patel issued her resignation letter, offering a “fulsome apology”.
Patel’s resignation cuts short the rapid rise of the 45 year old politician. According to Bloomberg News, she was elected to Parliament in 2010, was appointed junior treasury secretary in 2014, and May appointed her as minister of international development after she became Prime Minister in the wake of Brexit. She had often been mentioned as a future leadership contender. While she has lost her position in May’s cabinet, Patel has been allowed to keep her seat in Parliament. Now, she promises to take an “active role” in representing local residents.
Prime Minister May now needs to find a replacement. However, The Times reported that her task i becoming increasingly complicated as Iain Duncan Smith, a leader of the Brexit campaign, said that it would be wrong for May to “change the balance of the cabinet” on Brexit. However, May was already struggling to find qualified candidates committed to Brexit in the wake of the resignation of Defense Secretary Peter Thorneycroft, who was embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal. Meanwhile, CNN reported that May’s deputy Prime Minister Damian Green is under investigation for similar allegations. Finally, May is facing pressure to fire her foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, after he claimed a British-Iranian woman imprisoned in Iran had been training journalists when arrested. Her family says she was vacation, and lawmakers forced Johnson to backtrack.
All these scandals are beginning to pile up for Theresa May, who was already facing difficulties after failing to win a majority in June’s election. Meanwhile, concerns that May cannot effectively carry out the Brexit negotiations continue to grow, with The Times publishing the headline, “Fears government will collapse as Patel quits.” Whether the resignation causes that outcome remains to be seen, but it certainly adds uncertainty to May’s government and the ongoing Brexit negotiations.