Civil servant at heart of Priti Patel ‘bullying’ claims ‘obstructed’ successive home secretaries

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Home Office civil servant at heart of Priti Patel ‘bullying’ claims ‘obstructed and undermined successive home secretaries – but kept his £190,000-a -year job despite being “nowhere to be seen” during the Windrush scandal’

  • Priti Patel tried to oust Sir Philip Rutnam from Home Office after they clashed 
  • Sir Philip is the permanent secretary at the Home Office – its top civil servant
  • Sir Philip is today facing a backlash over his handling of the Windrush scandal 

By Jack Maidment, Deputy Political Editor For Mailonline

Published: 16:10 GMT, 21 February 2020 | Updated: 16:57 GMT, 21 February 2020

A top civil servant who Priti Patel tried to get rid of is facing a furious backlash amid claims he ‘obstructed’ successive home secretaries. 

Ms Patel is said to have tried to move permanent secretary Sir Philip Rutnam out of the department after they clashed.

Sir Philip previously faced calls for him to resign in 2018 over the Home Office’s handling of the Windrush scandal.

Now former Home Office insiders have accused the mandarin of being ‘nowhere to be seen’ during the crisis despite being ‘paid more than the prime minister’.

It came as Ms Patel faced fresh allegations of bullying having already been accused of belittling Home Office civil servants.

The new claims, published by The Times, span a five year period and relate to her previous ministerial roles at the Department for Work and Pensions and then the Department for International Development.

Sir Philip Rutnam, permanent secretary at the Home Office, is facing a backlash over his handling of the Windrush scandal

Sir Philip Rutnam, permanent secretary at the Home Office, is facing a backlash over his handling of the Windrush scandal 

Former ministers and officials alleged that she had ‘dressed down’ staff in front of their colleagues and asked: ‘Why is everyone so f***ing useless?’

Who is Sir Philip Rutnam, the Whitehall mandarin who Priti Patel ‘wants to get rid of?’

Sir Philip Rutnam is one of the most senior civil servants in Whitehall. 

He joined the Home Office as permanent secretary – the top civil servant role in each department – in April 2017 having previously done the same job at the Department for Transport for five years.

However, his time at the Home Office has proved to be controversial because he was in post during the Windrush scandal. 

He faced calls in November 2018 to resign over it with Tory London mayor candidate Shaun Bailey claiming the mandarin needed to step down to ‘restore confidence’ in the Home Office.  

Amber Rudd resigned as home secretary in April 2018 because of the controversy which saw some migrants from Commonwealth countries who came to the UK from the late 1970s to 1973 being wrongly declared illegal immigrants. 

An official report examining what went wrong found that Ms Rudd had been let down by her officials. 

However, it stopped short of criticising Sir Philip.

It was also claimed that she had sent ‘aggressive’ emails to staff in the ‘middle of the night’.

Ms Patel’s allies have vehemently denied the bullying accusations and claimed the Home Secretary was the victim of ‘malicious gossip’.

It was reported earlier this week that Ms Patel had tried to get rid of Sir Philip from his role at the Home Office.

Sir Philip is said to have raised concerns about her treatment of staff with the Cabinet Office.  

Allies of Ms Patel told The Telegraph that the Home Secretary had tried to remove Sir Philip because they are ‘just not the right fit’. 

They claimed he had tried to block appointments and undermine Ms Patel in Cabinet, ‘obstructing’ the moves she wanted to make.

The newspaper said that Ms Patel and Sir Philip had initially fallen out last September after the latter allegedly tried to stand in the way of an announcement that more police would be allowed to carry tasers.    

Sir Philip joined the department as its top civil servant in April 2017 and was in post during the Windrush scandal. He faced calls to resign over the issue in 2018.

One former Home Office insider today claimed in comments reported by Politico that Sir Philip was ‘nowhere to be seen’ during the immigration scandal.

‘Then, just like now, he oversaw a culture of politicised leaks and egotistical briefing from the department and has managed to avoid taking any responsibility or face any consequence for the Windrush scandal, instead staying in the role he gets paid more than the prime minister for, and throwing his deputy and others under the bus,’ they said.

Official government data on high earners in the Civil Service suggests Sir Philip is paid a salary of at least £190,000. 

Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, reportedly recently tried to get Sir Philip removed from his post at the Home Office

Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, reportedly recently tried to get Sir Philip removed from his post at the Home Office

Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, reportedly recently tried to get Sir Philip removed from his post at the Home Office 

Sir Philip told the Home Affairs Select Committee in November 2018 that he felt ‘personal responsibility for everything that happens in the Department’.

He also said he felt ‘personal responsibility for the fact that we did not spot the Windrush events sooner’.

However, he said that was ‘not the same, though, as saying that I am responsible in the sense that I should have done something in real time to prevent it’.   

Asked today to comment on the claims made against Sir Philip, the Home Office referred back to the statement it issued yesterday in response to the claims made against Ms Patel and said it would not be commenting any further.

A Home Office spokesman said: ‘We have not received any formal complaints and we take the welfare of our staff extremely seriously.’