UK premier's authority hit by ministerial blunders

ISTANBUL

International Development Secretary Priti Patel was facing the sack on Wednesday following a number of unauthorized meetings with Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Press Association news agency reported that Patel had been recalled from an official visit to Uganda after days of debate over the meetings, which seemed to have breached the ministerial code of conduct.

Patel’s behaviour raised questions about Prime Minister Theresa May’s control over her ministers. On Nov. 1, Defense Secretary Michael Fallon resigned over making unwanted advances towards women.

Earlier this week, Patel was reprimanded over a series of 12 meetings with Netanyahu and other officials in August, which was not discussed with the U.K. Foreign Office in advance.

Two more meetings with Israeli officials in September, at which U.K. government representatives were not present, could see Patel dismissed from the job.

Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan tweeted about a meeting he had with Patel in the British parliament on Sept. 7, describing it as “wonderful”.

Patel then met an Israeli foreign office minister in New York on Sept. 18.

In a statement on Monday, Patel apologized for the August contacts and said: “This summer I travelled to Israel, on a family holiday paid for myself.

Apology

“While away I had the opportunity to meet a number of people and organisations. I am publishing a list of who I met.‎ The Foreign and Commonwealth Office was aware of my visit while it was underway‎.

“In hindsight, I can see how my enthusiasm to engage in this way could be mis-read, and how meetings were set up and reported in a way which did not accord with the usual procedures. I am sorry for this and I apologize for it.”

Local media this week reported comments from a Downing Street spokesman who said Patel had discussed the possibility of using British taxpayers’ money to support a hospital run by the Israeli military in the Golan Heights for Syrian refugees.

Britain does not give financial aid to Israel's military.

At all but one of the meetings, Patel was accompanied by lobbyist Lord Polak, a leading member of Conservative Friends of Israel, The Guardian newspaper reported.

The revelations came in the same week that Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson faced stinging criticism of his remarks about a British-Iranian woman jailed in Iran.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was detained in Tehran last year and faced charges of trying to overthrow the Iranian government. She is now serving a five-year jail term but the sentence could be increased if she is convicted on additional charges.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe said she had been in Iran on holiday to visit relatives but last week Johnson said she had been teaching journalism. He was later forced to correct his remarks.