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Priti Patel

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The Right Honourable
Priti Patel
MP
Secretary of State for International Development
Incumbent
Assumed office
14 July 2016
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byJustine Greening
Minister of State for Employment
In office
11 May 2015 – 14 July 2016
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byEsther McVey
Succeeded byDamian Hinds
Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury
In office
15 July 2014 – 11 May 2015
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byDavid Gauke
Succeeded byDamian Hinds
Member of Parliament
for Witham
Incumbent
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded byConstituency established
Majority19,554 (41.5%)
Personal details
Born (1972-03-29) 29 March 1972 (age 52)
London, England
Political partyConservative (Before 1995; 1997–present)
Referendum (1995–1997)
SpouseAlex Sawyer
ChildrenFreddie
Alma materKeele University
University of Essex

Priti Sushil Patel[1] (born 29 March 1972) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Witham constituency in Essex since 2010. She is currently Secretary of State for International Development. Appointed Minister of State for Employment attending Cabinet on 11 May 2015, and previously a member of the Public Administration Select Committee.[2] A member of the Conservative Party, she is regarded as being ideologically on the party's right-wing and has been described as a Thatcherite.

Patel was born in London to a Ugandan Indian migrant family. Educated at Keele University and the University of Essex, she was initially involved with the Referendum Party before switching allegiance to the Conservatives. She contested Nottingham North unsuccessfully at the 2005 general election before, under David Cameron's leadership, being recommended for the Party's "A-List" of prospective candidates; she was elected Conservative MP for the seat of Witham at the 2010 general election.

A sometimes outspoken figure, Patel has been criticised by political opponents for defending the tobacco and alcohol industries; and for suggesting that British workers are lazy in an economic treatise.

Early life

Patel was born on 29 March 1972,[3] and was brought up in South Harrow and Ruislip.[4] Her parents were Ugandan immigrants of Gujarati origin who came to Hertfordshire, England, in the 1960s, departing Uganda shortly before President Idi Amin announced the expulsion of Ugandan Asians.[5] They established a chain of newsagents in London and the South East of England.[6]

Patel attended Watford Grammar School for Girls in Watford,[7] before studying Economics, Sociology and Social Anthropology at Keele University, completing her postgraduate studies at the University of Essex.[8] The Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher became her political hero: according to Patel, she "had a unique ability to understand what made people tick, households tick and businesses tick. Managing the economy, balancing the books and making decisions – not purchasing things the country couldn't afford".[9] She first joined the Conservative Party as a teenager, when John Major was Prime Minister.[5]

Early career

After graduating, Patel was recruited by Andrew Lansley (then Head of the Conservative Research Department) at Conservative Central Office having, from 1995 to 1997, headed the press office of the Referendum Party which polled over 800,000 votes at the 1997 general election.

After 1997, the Conservative Party's policy over the Euro changed, and Patel then left the Referendum Party and rejoined the Conservative Party having been offered a post to work for the new leader William Hague in his press office,[10] dealing with media relations in London and the South East of England.

The Financial Times published an article in August 2003 alleging that "racist attitudes" persisted in the Conservative Party, and that "there's a lot of bigotry around".[11] She then wrote to the FT countering its article which had misinterpreted her comments as implying she had been blocked as a party candidate because of her ethnicity.[12]

She then left Conservative HQ to work for Weber Shandwick, a public relations consultancy, advising major companies.[13] At the 2005 general election, she stood as the Conservative candidate for Nottingham North, losing heavily to its long-standing Labour MP Graham Allen by 5,671 votes (18.7%) to 17,842 votes (58.7%).[14]

During her work at Weber Shandwick, she lobbied on behalf of British American Tobacco (BAT) for several years, with a memo from that company showing that she was employed to "provide strategic advice on the account with a particular focus on the Conservative Party", billing the company for over £20,000 per month. BAT documents released in 2015 after a legal action indicate that she worked closely on a project to limit the damage to the company's reputation that its Burmese investments had caused; BAT paid its Burmese factory workers £15 a month, and Patel was paid £165 an hour to counter the negative publicity that the company's wage agreements generated. One BAT senior executive complained that Weber Shandwick felt uncomfortable about doing such work for a tobacco firm, but noted that "Priti [and another employee] seem quite relaxed working with us".[15]

In November 2000, Patel was part of a strategy group looking at how BAT could influence the outcome of the World Health Organisation's negotiations on developing the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.[16]

Patel then moved to Diageo, the British multinational alcoholic beverages company, and worked in corporate relations between 2003 and 2007, shaping "a global strategy on responsible drinking" according to PR Week. On her re-appointment to Weber Shandwick in 2007 Patel was reported as having been in the Corporate Relations team at Diageo Plc, where she "worked on international public policy issues related to the wider impact of alcohol in society."[17]

Member of Parliament

Under David Cameron's Premiership: 2010–15

After unsuccessfully contesting Nottingham North at the 2005 general election, Patel was identified as a promising candidate by new party leader David Cameron, and was offered a place on the "A-List" of Conservative prospective parliamentary candidates (PPC).[11] In November 2006, she was adopted as the PPC for the notionally safe Conservative seat of Witham—a new constituency in central Essex created after a boundary review[18][19]—before winning it with a sizeable majority at the 2010 general election. She was drafted into the Number 10 Policy Unit in October 2013,[20] and was promoted as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury the following summer.[3]

Patel's publicity photograph

Along with fellow Conservative MPs Kwasi Kwarteng, Dominic Raab, Chris Skidmore and Elizabeth Truss, Patel was considered one of the "Class of 2010" who represented the party's "new Right".[21] Together they co-authored Britannia Unchained, a book published in 2012. This work was critical of levels of workplace productivity in the UK, making the controversial statement that "once they enter the workplace, the British are among the worst idlers in the world". The authors suggested that to change this situation, the UK should reduce the size of the welfare state and seek to emulate the working conditions in countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea rather than those of other European nations.[22][23]

In October 2014, Patel criticised the plan of the Academies Enterprise Trust to merge the New Rickstones and Maltings Academies, claiming that to do so would be detrimental to school standards.[24] Patel lodged a complaint with the BBC alleging one-sided coverage critical of Narendra Modi on the eve of his victory in 2014 Indian elections.[25][26] In January 2015, Patel was presented with a "Jewels of Gujarat" award in Ahmedabad, India, and in the city she gave a keynote speech at the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce.[27]

In the general election of May 2015—a Conservative victory—Patel retained her parliamentary seat with 27,123 votes, increasing her majority by 4000.[28] During the campaign, she had criticised Labour Party rival John Clarke for referring to her as a "sexy Bond villain" and a "village idiot" on social media; he had apologised.[29] After the election, Patel rose to Cabinet-level as Minister of State for Employment in the Department for Work and Pensions,[30] and was sworn of the Privy Council on 14 May 2015. In December 2015, Patel voted to support Cameron's planned bombing of Islamic State targets in Syria.[31]

Following Cameron's announcement of a referendum on the UK's continuing membership of the European Union (EU), Patel was widely touted as a likely "poster girl" for the Vote Leave campaign.[32] Claiming that the EU is "undemocratic and interferes too much in our daily lives", Patel publicly stated that immigration from elsewhere in the EU was overstretching the resources of UK schools.[33] She helped to launch the Women For Britain campaign for anti-EU women; at their launch party, she compared their campaign with that of Emmeline Pankhurst and the Suffragettes, for which she was criticised by Emmeline's great-granddaughter Helen Pankhurst.[34] Following the success of the 'Leave' vote in the referendum, Cameron resigned, resulting in a leadership contest within the party. Patel openly supported Theresa May as his successor, claiming that she had the "strength and experience" for the job, while arguing that May's main challenger Andrea Leadsom would prove too divisive to win a general election.[35]

Department for International Development

Patel greets Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Heathrow Airport, London; 12 November 2015.

After becoming Prime Minister, in July 2016 May appointed Patel to the position of International Development Secretary. Patel described herself as being "delighted" with the post despite a statement made in 2013 suggesting that the Department for International Development should be scrapped and replaced with a Department for International Trade and Development.[36] Many staff at the department were concerned about Patel's appointment, both because of her support for Brexit and because of her longstanding scepticism regarding international development and aid spending.[37] On taking the position, Patel stated that too much UK aid was wasted or spent inappropriately, declaring that she would adopt an approach rooted in "core Conservative principles" and emphasise international development through trade as opposed to aid.[38] In September, Patel announced that the UK would contribute £1.1 billion to a global aid fund used to combat malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS, but added that any further aid deals would include "performance agreements" meaning that the UK government could reduce aid by 10% if specific criteria were not met by the recipient country.[39]

In September 2016 she expressed opposition to the construction of 28 affordable homes at the Lakelands development in Stanway, referring to it as an "unacceptable loss of open space" and criticising Colchester Borough Council for permitting it.[40] That same month, the council's chief executive Adrian Pritchard issued a complaint against Patel, claiming that she had acted "inappropriately" in urging Sajid Javid to approve the construction of an out-of-town retail park after it had already been rejected by Colchester Council.[41] Also in September, proposals were put forward for a change to the boundaries of parliamentary constituencies across the UK. As a result of the plans, Patel's seat of Witham would be merged with neighbouring Maldon. This would potentially require her to compete against Maldon MP John Whittingdale for the new seat of Witham and Maldon.[42]

Political ideology and views

Photograph
Margaret Thatcher, Patel's political idol

Patel is considered to be on the right-wing of the Conservative Party,[9][43] with the Total Politics website noting that some saw her as a "modern-day Norman Tebbit".[9] In The Guardian, the economics commentator Aditya Chakrabortty characterised her as "an out-and-out rightwinger" who has no desire to "claim the centre ground" in politics.[44] Patel has cited Thatcher as her political idol,[9] with various news sources characterising her as a Thatcherite,[9][21] and while profiling Patel for The Independent, Tom Peck noted that she "could scarcely be more of a Thatcherite".[45] She served on the 1922 Committee before appointment as a Minister,[46] and is an officer of Conservative Friends of Israel.[47]

She has taken robust stances on crime, garnering headlines after she argued for the restoration of capital punishment on the BBC's Question Time in September 2011.[48] She also opposes prisoner voting. She has also opposed allowing Jeremy Bamber, who was convicted of murder in her constituency, access to media to protest his innocence.[49] Patel had a mixed voting record, guided by her constituents' views, on allowing same-sex marriage[50] but ultimately voted against the 2013 Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill.[51]

Patel has been criticised by some for raising issues in the House of Commons related to her time working for the tobacco and alcohol industries.[52] As a parliamentarian, Patel has been consistently supportive of tobacco industry viewpoints: in October 2010, she voted for the smoking ban to be overturned; in December 2010, she signed a letter requesting that plain packaging for cigarettes be reconsidered. Patel has also campaigned with the drinks industry, holding a reception in parliament for the Call Time On Duty Campaign in favour of ending the alcohol duty escalator supported the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, the Scotch Whisky Association and the Tax Payers' Alliance.[53]

Personal life

In July 2004, Patel married Alex Sawyer. They have a son, Freddie, born in August 2008.[54] By religion she is Hindu.[55]

References

  1. ^ "House of Commons Hansard Debates for 19 May 2015 (pt 0001)". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 19 May 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
  2. ^ "Profile: Priti Patel". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Priti Patel MP: Who is the new Treasury minister who supports death penalty and rejects plain packaging for cigarettes?". The Independent. 15 July 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  4. ^ "Democracy Live: Priti Patel MP". BBC. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  5. ^ a b "Priti Patel, MP: The New Face Of Britain's Conservative Party". International Business Times. 8 January 2013.
  6. ^ "Priti Patel: saviour of the Tory Right". Total Politics. October 2012. Archived from the original on 5 October 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ "Pen portraits of the 10 Conservative women ministers who were promoted in the reshuffle". The Daily Telegraph. 15 July 2014.
  8. ^ "The Conservative women on the rise in Cameron's reshuffle". BBC News. 15 July 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  9. ^ a b c d e Tom Gockelen-Kozlowski (5 October 2012). "Priti Patel: saviour of the Tory Right". Total Politics.
  10. ^ "This week's panel". Question Time. BBC. 15 March 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  11. ^ a b Brant, Robin (4 December 2006). "A year on, has the A-list worked?". BBC News. Archived from the original on 8 August 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2015. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ "Question Time: This Week's Panel".
  13. ^ David Singleton (11 May 2010). "Many lobbyists win seats but some see majority decreased". PR Week. Retrieved 22 September 2011.[dead link]
  14. ^ NatalieFahy (6 May 2015). "Election results for Nottingham North from 2001, 2005 and 2010". Nottingham Post. Retrieved 4 July 2016.[dead link]
  15. ^ Jamie Doward (30 May 2015). "Minister worked as spin doctor for tobacco giant that paid workers £15 a month". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  16. ^ "WHO-FCTC – Outcomes of first INB Session". Legacy Tobacco Documents Library. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  17. ^ "Tory rising star returns to Weber Shandwick". Weber Shandwick. Archived from the original on 16 January 2008. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  18. ^ "Priti Patel takes Witham by storm". East Anglian Daily Times. Archived from the original on 10 December 2005. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  19. ^ Dines, Graham (21 November 2006). "Priti Patel takes Witham by storm". Eastern Daily Press. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
  20. ^ "New Number 10 policy board announced". The Spectator. 15 October 2013. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  21. ^ a b "Priti Patel: the rising star tipped to lead Brexit campaign". The Week. 1 March 2016.
  22. ^ "Tackle 'lazy' Britain, fellow Tories tell David Cameron". London Evening Standard. 17 August 2012.
  23. ^ Randeep Ramesh (17 August 2012). "Tory young bloods say Britons are idlers who need to emulate Asia". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2015. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 12 March 2016 suggested (help); Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  24. ^ Will Lodge (15 October 2014). "Witham: MP Priti Patel voices opposition to merger of Maltings and New Rickstones Academies". East Anglian Daily News. Archived from the original on 10 August 2015. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  25. ^ "Indian-origin MP takes BBC's 'Modi coverage' complaint to UK ministry". The Times of India. 22 June 2014.
  26. ^ "British PM Cameron's aide takes on BBC over critical comments against Modi". Hindustan Times. 20 June 2014.
  27. ^ "UK Minister Priti Patel honoured at 'Jewels of Gujarat' reception". British High Commission, New Delhi. 7 January 2015.
  28. ^ Will Lodge (8 May 2015). "Election 2015: Priti Patel extends majority for Conservatives in Witham". East Anglian Daily Times. Archived from the original on 18 July 2015. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  29. ^ Annabelle Dickson (24 March 2015). "Tories want Labour election candidate who described Witham MP Priti Patel as 'sexy Bond villain' to be axed". East Anglian Daily Times. Archived from the original on 28 March 2015. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  30. ^ "Priti Patel appointed as Employment Minister". ITV News.
  31. ^ Annabelle Dickson (2 December 2015). "Prime Minister given backing to extend air strikes to Syria". East Anglian Daily Times. Archived from the original on 3 December 2015. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  32. ^ Ian Silvera (8 February 2016). "Priti Patel: Who is the top Tory right-winger tipped to be the face of the Brexit campaign?". International Business Times. Archived from the original on 9 February 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  33. ^ Rowena Mason (21 June 2016). "Priti Patel warns of EU migration threat to UK class sizes". The Guardian.
  34. ^ Annabelle Dickson (8 March 2016). "Essex MP under fire for likening women who campaign to leave the European Union to the suffragettes". East Anglian Daily Times.
  35. ^ Tim Ross (9 July 2016). "Priti Patel: Andrea Leadsom could become a Tory Corbyn". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 9 July 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  36. ^ Jon Stone (14 July 2016). "The new International Development Secretary wanted to scrap what is now her department". The Independent.
  37. ^ Stephen Bush (20 September 2016). "Dfid officials are worried about Priti Patel, but it's Brexit they should be frightened of". New Statesman. Retrieved 20 September 2016. {{cite news}}: |archive-date= requires |archive-url= (help); Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  38. ^ Ben Quinn (14 September 2016). "Priti Patel plans foreign aid overhaul based on 'core Tory values'". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  39. ^ Peter Dominiczak (18 September 2016). "Britain will withhold foreign aid money if performance countries' targets are not met". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 19 September 2016.
  40. ^ Matt Stott (6 September 2016). "Witham MP Priti Patel labels Colchester Borough Council 'rotten' in Stanway housing development dispute". East Anglian Daily Times. Archived from the original on 7 September 2016. Retrieved 20 September 2016. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 6 September 2016 suggested (help); Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  41. ^ Ryan Jennings (20 September 2016). "Council claims MP acted 'inappropriately' in Tollgate planning row". Daly Gazette.
  42. ^ Matt Stott (13 September 2016). "Witham MP Priti Patel and Maldon MP John Whittingdale set to fight over merged seat at 2020 General Election". East Anglian Daily Times.
  43. ^ "Tory rightwinger Priti Patel promoted to Treasury". The Guardian. 15 July 2014. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2014. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  44. ^ Aditya Chakrabortty (23 August 2016). "A death foretold: watch as Priti Patel trashes our proud record on aid". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 September 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  45. ^ Tom Peck (20 February 2016). "Priti Patel, profile: Tory 'robot' poised for anti-EU reboot". The Independent. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  46. ^ "About Priti". priti4witham.com. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  47. ^ "About Conservative Friends of Israel". cfoi.co.uk. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
  48. ^ Helyer, Rachel (23 September 2011). "Furore as Priti Patel urges return of death penalty". theweek.co.uk. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  49. ^ "Why was killer Bamber given access to media?". Maldon Standard. 13 September 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  50. ^ "Priti Patel MP, Witham". TheyWorkForYou. mySociety. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  51. ^ Duffy, Nick. "Here's how the new Cabinet voted on same-sex marriage". PinkNews. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  52. ^ Doward, Jamie (3 May 2014). "Tory cigarette packaging rebel Priti Patel is ex-tobacco lobbyist". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  53. ^ "Call Time on Duty campaign makes its case to Parliamentarians". Wsta.co.uk. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  54. ^ "Newborn Freddie is the Tory party's youngest member | This is Essex". Thisistotalessex.co.uk. 14 August 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2011.[dead link]
  55. ^ Antonia Filmer (11 April 2015). "UK Hindus list demands before may election". Sunday-guardian.com. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Priti Patel.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency Member of Parliament
for Witham
2010–present 		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury
2014–2015 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of State for Employment
2015–2016 		Succeeded by
TBD
Preceded by Secretary of State for International Development
2016–present 		Incumbent
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