Priti Patel Quits As British Secretary After Liz Truss Wins PM Election

UK Home Secretary; Priti Patel has quit as British home secretary, following the election of Liz Truss as the new Conservative Party leader.

This comes a few hours after Conservative Party leader; Liz Truss was elected as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

In her resignation letter to Boris Johnson, shared on social media, Ms. Patel said it was her “choice” to continue her public service from the backbenches when Ms. Truss formally takes up her post as British prime minister on Tuesday.

Gujarat-origin Patel, who was appointed Home Secretary by Boris Johnson in July 2019, described it as the honour of her life to deliver reforms for the country’s police and immigration system and fighting terrorism.

“It has been the honour of my life to serve as home secretary for the last three years,” she tweeted.

“I am proud of our work to back the police, reform our immigration system, and protect our country.”

“I congratulate Liz Truss on being elected our new leader and will give her my support as our new Prime Minister, she wrote in her resignation letter. From the backbenches, I will champion many of the policies and causes that I have stood for both inside and outside of government,” she said.

“I have signed new international returns agreements with India, Albania, Serbia, Nigeria, and Pakistan, with work underway to negotiate more agreements and to remove more people who should not be in this country and who have abused our hospitality, she wrote, concerning some of her work as the head of the Home Office”.

Her departure comes amid reports that Ms. Truss is planning to appoint attorney general Suella Braverman as home secretary when she begins assembling her new cabinet.

Fiercely loyal to Mr. Johnson, she was one of the few cabinet ministers not to declare their support for either Ms. Truss or her leadership rival, Rishi Sunak.

Her letter also references the controversial Rwanda asylum policy to deport illegal migrants to the African nation as part of a wider strategy to crack down on illegal migration.

Her three years in office have been marked by a series of controversies – not least her attempts to stem the flow of migrants crossing the Channel.

Earlier this year she signed what she described as a “landmark” agreement with Rwanda to send refugees to the east African state to claim asylum there.

However, the first deportation flight, which had been due to take off in June, was grounded amid a series of legal challenges and so far no deportations have taken place.

Since then, the numbers crossing the Channel have continued to rise with the daily total topping 1,000 for the second time this year on Sunday.

In her letter to Mr. Johnson, Ms. Patel argued that it was “vital” to press on with the policy, signaling that she would continue to champion the scheme from the backbenches.

“As we know, there is no single solution to this huge challenge and the government must tackle the full spectrum of issues to halt the illegal entry of migrants to the UK,” she said.

Her departure came after it was announced that another ally of Mr. Johnson – Tory Party co-chairman Ben Elliot – was also standing down.