Imagine how much worse this sort of thing is likely to be in the USA:
Priti Patel is facing the sack today after Theresa May ordered her to cancel an Africa tour and return to the UK. The Aid Secretary’s fate appears to be sealed after two further secret meetings with Israeli officials emerged on top of the 12 that had already been revealed. The latest developments appear to have hardened the mood in Downing Street, where there had already been fury at Miss Patel’s ‘freelancing’.
No10 sources said the minister had been told to return to the UK from Nairobi for a showdown, cancelling plans for her to fly to Uganda with Trade Secretary Liam Fox. The row over Miss Patel’s extraordinary breach of government protocol while on a ‘family holiday’ to Israel surfaced last week, but erupted again on Monday when she admitted there were more undeclared meetings, including with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mrs May demanded an apology from Miss Patel and formally reprimanded her, hoping that would draw a line under the furore. However, it has now been revealed that she held two further unauthorised meetings with senior Israeli political figures which were not attended by UK Government officials. Miss Patel narrowly avoided the sack following the initial wave of revelations after the PM decided she could not risk destabilising the Government further after Sir Michael Fallon quit over sexual harassment claims last week. But Downing Street’s stance changed yesterday after it emerged that Miss Patel had tried to divert some of Britain’s aid budget to humanitarian work by the Israeli army in the disputed Golan Heights.
I wonder what would happen if the special counsel were to investigate Israeli interference with the US government with the same energy he has shown in the futile RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA probe.
I understand that Israel is in a geographically precarious position and is always looking for ways to improve the odds of its survival, but this sort of thing is absolutely the wrong way to go about strengthening one’s alliances and pretty much guarantees a backlash that could be worse than any potential benefit gained.
UPDATE: This affair may take down May as well as Patel now. Total incompetence on the part of the Prime Minister, who should have fired Patel immediately.
Number 10 instructed Development Secretary Priti Patel not to include her meeting with the Israel foreign ministry official Yuval Rotem in New York on 18 September in her list of undisclosed meetings with Israelis which was published on Monday, the JC has learned.
Ms Patel listed 12 meetings in the statement, and the emergence of two more last night is thought to have made her sacking imminent.
But the JC understands, from two different sources, that Ms Patel did disclose the meeting with Mr Rotem but was told by Number 10 not to include it as it would embarrass the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
It would be ironic as well as unfortunate if this diplomatic debacle helped Jeremy Corbyn, the avowedly anti-Zionist Labour leader, come to power.