Watching Priti Patel, it is impossible not to discern that she’s a bit of a prickly cactus.
Her manner is cold, her visage somewhat pinched, while her resting expression tends towards, yes, I’m sorry, a smirk.
When pressed on a matter, her lower jaw has a habit of jutting out confrontationally towards the person she is addressing, as if to say: ‘D’ya want some?’
Were Priti ever to tread the boards, she’d be ideal as a menacing chorus girl in a Stephen Sondheim musical.
The Home Secretary could at least rely on total support from her own benches, not something that could be said before the election. A couple of old timers were gushing. Iain Duncan Smith congratulated her on her job ‘which she is doing brilliantly’
Some Whitehall officials have recently claimed that she’s a bully – but to me this sounds suspiciously like the moans of an recalcitrant Civil Service.
No doubt Ms Patel is what you might call a bit of a bruiser. But as Home Secretary she is responsible for, among other things, crime and counter terrorism. It is not a job for those with skin as thin as rice paper.
Take her appearance yesterday afternoon in the Commons, where she arrived to deliver a statement on the Government’s new points-based immigration system – which, supposedly, will close the door on the number of low-skilled migrants coming to the UK.
It was clear from the reaction around the House when she entered that opposition MPs do not care for the Home Secretary one jot.
Ms Ribeiro-Addy, a proud socialist, made a nervy, slightly scratchy speech. At one point she appeared to imply there was no such thing as highly-skilled work. ‘A work is skilled when it is well done,’ she said. Hmm. Brain surgeons might have a thing or two to say about that
They dislike her almost as much as her new immigration policy. No sooner had she stood to speak than the chamber took on a leery, pool hall-like atmosphere.
Interjection flew across the dispatch box. The SNP were particularly rowdy, mooing like a herd of milch cows.
The Home Secretary soldiered on regardless, a casual wave of her talons here, a scathing shake of her head there.
On Labour’s front bench, Jeremy Corbyn suddenly appeared, just as the party’s new immigration minister Bell Ribeiro-Addy was responding to Ms Patel’s statement.
What he was doing there wasn’t clear. He looked to be at a loose end, like a teacher hanging around on school grounds not knowing what to do with his afternoon off.
Some Whitehall officials have recently claimed that she’s a bully – but to me this sounds suspiciously like the moans of an recalcitrant Civil Service. No doubt Ms Patel is what you might call a bit of a bruiser. But as Home Secretary she is responsible for, among other things, crime and counter terrorism
Ms Ribeiro-Addy, a proud socialist, made a nervy, slightly scratchy speech. At one point she appeared to imply there was no such thing as highly-skilled work.
‘A work is skilled when it is well done,’ she said. Hmm. Brain surgeons might have a thing or two to say about that.
Ms Patel offered her opponent an icy welcome to her new job.
‘I’m sure she will do very well,’ she smiled thinly, her voice dripping with, well with something less than friendly.
There then came an interruption. Corbyn unsheathed his scabbard and came to his mentee’s aid. ‘Stop putting her down,’ Jezza said.
Priti Patel’s eyebrows did a double hop and she fixed Corbyn with a Medusa glare.
‘Perhaps the Honourable Gentleman would like to actually wait and listen to what I would like to say,’ she scolded.
By now even Diane Abbott had jolted from her reveries.
The atmosphere grew ever more ill-tempered. Kevin Brennan (Lab, Cardiff West) slid from side to side impatiently, concerned by how long each question was taking.
Get on with it!’ he hollered, earning a rebuke from the Speaker’s chair. ‘Kick him out!’ came a cry from the government benches.
The Home Secretary could at least rely on total support from her own benches, not something that could be said before the election.
A couple of old timers were gushing. Iain Duncan Smith congratulated her on her job ‘which she is doing brilliantly’.
Interjection flew across the dispatch box. The SNP were particularly rowdy, mooing like a herd of milch cows. The Home Secretary soldiered on regardless, a casual wave of her talons here, a scathing shake of her head there
Owen Paterson (Con, N Shropshire) reminded Ms Patel how they had discussed a points-based immigration system when they had first met back when she was a ‘thrusting’ backbencher. Priti smiled coquettishly.
After 45 minutes, deputy Speaker Eleanor Laing decided to move on to other business.
Angus MacNeil (SNP, Na h-Eileanan an Iar) who had spent the session puffing and waving his arms in an attempt to be called, wailed in exasperation.
‘There is no point in the honourable gentleman making gestures at me!’ the usually mild mannered Laing screamed.
MacNeil cowered like a smacked puppy. Across from him, the Home Secretary turned to her underling Kevin Foster and shot him a conspiratorial wink.