British PM Boris Johnson is facing a court case for backing Priti Patel, the British Home Secretary, over an alleged bullying case. Johnsons was criticised for standing with his home secretary after the latter's alleged unacceptable behaviour toward Philip Rutnam, a permanent secretary in the home office. Philip Rutnam had resigned on this issue.
According to Ruthnam home secratary priti patel has been behind an ongoing vicious and orchestrated campaign against him.
A Petition ha been filed by the association of First Division Civil Servants (FDA) in London high court which seeks a judicial opinion on the legal validity of the ministerial code. The petition will be heard on November 17 and 18.
Johnson had stood by Patel claiming that she did not breach the ministerial code even after Allex Allan, his independent advisor, had found Home Secretary guilty of not maintaining the high standards expected of her.
Johnson, who is the final arbiter on the matter, however, refused to take the finding to a logical conclusion as doing so would have meant sacking Patel.
The Guardian newspaper reported that the Prime Minister had texted a group urging them to "form a (protective) square around the Prittster (nickname for Priti)". Even in a recent cabinet reshuffle, when there was considerable speculation that she might be moved to a lesser portfolio, this did not happen.
Allan resigned from his position after the bottom line of his probe wasn't acted upon by Johnson. Furthermore, Rutnam had to be disbursed 340,000 pounds as a settlement and another 30,000 pounds as costs. This was not the first time that accusations of misconduct had been levelled against Patel and money to defuse the situation had had to be paid out by the British government.
FDA General Secretary Dave Penman was quoted as saying: "The prime minister's decision, which he said reflected the Home Secretary's assertion that her actions were unintentional, also potentially allows ministers to avoid the consequences of their behaviour in future by pleading that it should be the intent of their actions which is important, not the consequences.
"The result is that civil servants' confidence in challenging unacceptable behaviour from ministers has been fatally damaged."
A recent poll of British civil servants discovered that 90 per cent of them had no faith in the ministerial code as a way of redressing grievances against errant ministers.
Last week, an independent committee on Standards in Public Life emphasised: "Meaningful independence is the benchmark for any effective form of standards regulation and current arrangements for the adviser still fall below this bar."
The minister-civil servant relationship in India mirrors Whitehall, since India adopted the Westminster system of government at the time of its independence.
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British PM Boris Johnson has faced a court case for backing Priti Patel, the British Home Secretary, over an alleged bullying case. Johnsons was criticised for standing with home secretary after latter's unacceptible behaviour toward Philip Rutnam, a permanent secretary in the home office. Philip Rutnam had resigned on this issue
