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Priti Patel’s pursual of Windrush cases only adds to her fractious and incompetent legacy

Editorial: In a government lacking in competent, media-savvy performers, but with some promising talent in the ranks below, Ms Patel should not think her position secure, in the short or the long run

Thursday 30 April 2020 00:07 BST
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It was suggested that the internal Cabinet Office enquiry into the home secretary’s behaviour will fall short of meriting her resignation, but neither will it be complimentary
It was suggested that the internal Cabinet Office enquiry into the home secretary’s behaviour will fall short of meriting her resignation, but neither will it be complimentary

A good day to bury bad news, it might be said. The birth of a baby boy to Carrie Symonds and Boris Johnson was terribly jolly news given their recent experiences with Covid-19, and all the additional anxieties that entailed for their families and friends. It dominated much of the news for a while, adding a little light to the shade of the continuing coronavirus crisis.

In the circumstances, then, it was much to the advantage of the home secretary that various disobliging stories about her conduct and the performance of her department were somewhat overshadowed. However, the severe doubts about her suitability for high office persist.

The most outright shameful revelations were those that accompanied her appearance before the Commons’ Home Affairs Committee, reminding us precisely why we need parliament to hold the executive to account even in a national emergency. A naive observer might have assumed that after two years of intense scrutiny and seven years since the first warnings were sounded within government, the Home Office might have finished with any outstanding Windrush generation cases and moved on. After all, it has better things to do now than to waste time trying to throw British citizens out of Britain.

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