[anarchist23]

May will have to fire Peti Patel.
Peti Patel proposed to fund the Israeli army with U.K. foreign aid money.
May is increasingly isolated and she will now have to dismiss another member of her cabinet. This is a second in less than a week.

LONDON — Theresa May is grappling with a new twist on a familiar theme: chaos in her Cabinet.
The U.K. prime minister summoned Priti Patel (Secretary of State for International Development) back to London on Wednesday after revelations that the international development secretary held back details of meetings with Israeli officials, which ridiculed May’s attempts to impose discipline on her unruly ministers.

Patel, who previously had the prime minister’s support, failed to disclose two more secret meetings with Israeli officials when she had supposedly “confessed all” to the prime minister on Monday, according to The Sun.

She later admitted she held two more meetings with Israeli officials in London and New York in September, also attended by the Conservative Party donor and lobbyist Stuart Polak — the same man who set up Patel’s undisclosed meetings in Israel the previous month, the newspaper revealed.

The prime minister had attempted to draw a line under the case of Patel, a high-profile Brexiteer, after she apologized for not informing London about meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior figures that she held while holidaying in the country.

But the latest revelations, and news that Patel also failed to tell May about a proposal to fund the Israeli army with U.K. foreign aid money, which she floated with officials on her return from the Middle East, have piled pressure on May to act.

“I somehow feel that some of this stuff is being drummed up because both Priti and the foreign secretary were big beasts in the Brexit campaign” — Stratford MP Nadhim Zahawi
Forced to cut short an official visit to Africa, Patel was heading back to London on the prime minister’s request, according to an official at No. 10, who said the minister would meet May later on Wednesday.

May has also been forced to expressed confidence (again) in her gaffe-prone Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, after accusations in the Times that, by misspeaking before a select committee last week, he had potentially extended the prison term of a British charity worker in Iran — a claim he vehemently denied.

In different times, both Patel and Johnson could have expected to lose their jobs.

“At the end of the day, the British system works on prime ministerial authority and collective responsibility and at the moment both have gone out of the window,” said Keith Simpson, a long-serving Tory backbencher.

May’s inability to act quickly on the crises surrounding two of the most ardent Brexiteers in her Cabinet has laid bare just how hamstrung the prime minister is when it comes to her top team, according to senior Conservatives.

Britain’s relationship with the EU post Brexit is still to be resolved around the Cabinet table, and the contentious bill that will govern the U.K.’s withdrawal from the EU is due to return next week to the House of Commons, where May’s Conservatives no longer have an overall majority following June’s snap election.

Faced with that scenario, the prime minister has attempted to preserve the fragile truce in her party between those who wanted to remain in the EU — and now generally argue for keeping close ties with the bloc — and those who won the Brexit referendum and more often advocate a clean break with Brussels.

All these pressures come against the backdrop of a sexual harassment scandal besieging Westminster, including an investigation into claims that May’s closest ally, the de facto Deputy

Stratford MP Nadhim Zahawi appeared on BBC Newsnight on Tuesday to defend both Patel and Johnson — and insisted their travails are actually part of a “Remoaner” plot to knock Brexit off course.

“I somehow feel that some of this stuff is being drummed up because both Priti and the foreign secretary were big beasts in the Brexit campaign, and some Labour ‘Remoaners’ and others think if we can take out some of these beasts and derail the government then maybe we can actually do a U-turn on Brexit,” he said.

One Brexit-supporting MP, who did not want to be named, said calls for Patel and Johnson to quit were “overblown” and the idea that Iran would have played fair were it not for Johnson’s comments was “a bit ridiculous.”

A senior Conservative adviser in the last government, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Brexiteers had rallied around Johnson and Patel, making it hard to fire them.

“She is not a dead woman walking as [former Chancellor] George Osborne said, but she is certainly walking wounded” — Keith Simpson
“The party is in quite a tribal position at the moment where people are literally representing a pro-Brexit tribe or a liberal Conservative Remain tribe and they feel like they want to protect their own,” the former adviser said.

May’s Cabinet is already weighted in favor of those who campaigned to remain in the European Union: Only six out of 23 full Cabinet members actively campaigned for Vote Leave.

A former Tory Cabinet minister also agreed that in “normal circumstances” Johnson would have gone. “The extraordinary situation we find ourselves in means that apparently the Cabinet needs to be balanced between Remain and Leavers,” the former minister said.

“The party is further and further away from the competence label that the Conservative Party should be famous for in government.”

Rumors of a reshuffle have swirled around Westminster for weeks but the prime minister has been loath to act. She cannot afford to alienate any of her team when a government defeat on the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, which will transpose EU legislation into U.K. law, already looks like a real possibility — thanks to a raft of amendments tabled by some of her own backbenchers.

May has bene forced to expressed confidence (again) in her gaffe-prone Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
“[May’s] problem is that when you have a reshuffle, you get two groups of disappointed people — the people you sack who might decide to become insurgents on the backbenches, and those who aren’t promoted,” Simpson said.

“All prime ministers have this. But if you have a majority of 30 or 40, you can get away with it,” he added.

Perhaps the only advantage for May in the delicate balance of power within the party is that neither faction is strong enough to topple her.

“She is not a dead woman walking as [former Chancellor] George Osborne said, but she is certainly walking wounded,” Simpson said.

https://www.politico.eu/article/priti-p ... -crumbles/

[Beren]

I'd have titled the thread differently: "The True Face Of Brexit"

Patel, who previously had the prime minister’s support, failed to disclose two more secret meetings with Israeli officials when she had supposedly “confessed all” to the prime minister on Monday, according to The Sun.

She later admitted she held two more meetings with Israeli officials in London and New York in September, also attended by the Conservative Party donor and lobbyist Stuart Polak — the same man who set up Patel’s undisclosed meetings in Israel the previous month, the newspaper revealed.

The prime minister had attempted to draw a line under the case of Patel, a high-profile Brexiteer, after she apologized for not informing London about meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior figures that she held while holidaying in the country.

But the latest revelations, and news that Patel also failed to tell May about a proposal to fund the Israeli army with U.K. foreign aid money, which she floated with officials on her return from the Middle East, have piled pressure on May to act.

[Vanasalus]

The plot thickens.

https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/no-1 ... s-1.447605

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.

Well, I am not sure whether The Jewish Chronicle is a credible news source, especially on such a controversial issue involving Israel.

Yet, if it is proved to be true, then we can all start singing!

[anarchist23]

Priti Patel has just resigned from her position in the Cabinet. Another one bites the dust and May is increasingly isolated. lol

Key events...
1m ago Exchange of letters between Priti Patel and Theresa May
9m ago Priti Patel resigns as International Development Secretary
16m ago Priti Patel leaves Downing Street
1h ago Priti Patel arrives at Downing Street for emergency meeting
4h ago Priti Patel leaves Heathrow
6h ago Theresa May urged to make statement clarifying exactly what she knew and when about Patel's Israel meetings
7h ago No 10 says Jewish Chronicle wrong to say May knew more about Patel's Israel meetings than she's admitted

[ThirdTerm]

Priti Patel has been forced to resign after failing to be candid with Theresa May over unofficial meetings with Israeli ministers, businesspeople and a senior lobbyist.

The international development secretary is the second cabinet minister to leave the government in a week and her loss will reinforce the impression that Theresa May’s government is in freefall.

Downing Street called Patel back from a trip to Uganda and Ethiopia on Wednesday after six days of revelations including an undisclosed meeting with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, organised by Lord Polak, an experienced Tory lobbyist.

May said Patel should be proud of her achievements as international development secretary, including delivering value for money to British taxpayers while “helping some of the world’s most vulnerable people”. She said the department had focused more on economic development and trade during Patel’s time in charge.

And she said the minister was right to be proud to be the first Indian cabinet member, which she called a “significant achievement”.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... h-israelis

Priti Patel is the only minority member of the Cabinet and her Indian parents are originally from Uganda. I think Patel is part of the diversity agenda of the May government and she's too young to be influential in any capacity, such as negotiating a secret deal with Israeli ministers. Since Patel is not Jewish, she has no particular reason to side with Israel, unless Geert Wilders has something to do with this scandal.

[anarchist23]

Months before he became prime minister in 2010, David Cameron warned that the next major scandal to hit British politics would be caused by illicit pressure from big lobbying interests.

The resignation of international development secretary Priti Patel has been framed by commentators as a manifestation of the ongoing political crisis afflicting the Theresa May government.

It is about much more than that. The Patel episode draws attention to one of the most striking features of British politics in the 21st century: the influence of the pro-Israel lobby in Britain.

The agent of Priti Patel's downfall was Stuart Polak, a Westminster fixer who has been the driving force behind the Conservative Friends of Israel for the last 30 years.

Polak told the BBC last week that he and Patel “met up for one or two things. It was the summer holidays. I just joined her for a couple of days, some drinks, some dinner, that kind of thing."

In fact, he seems to have played a much bigger role. It was Polak who arranged and attended the bulk of Priti Patel's meetings with Israeli businessmen and politicians during her so-called holiday in the Middle East in August.

We would all have been in the dark about this but for the diligent and praiseworthy reporting from the BBC diplomatic correspondent Landale. James Priti Patel met the Israeli public security minister Gilad Erdan in Westminster in September without government officials being present

This is the second case of its kind in less than a year. Back in January, an Israeli officer called Shai Masot was filmed by Al Jazeera proposing to “take down” Alan Duncan, a Foreign Office minister, who is sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.

Foreign countries have a right to have their voices heard in Whitehall and Westminster. But there are legitimate and well-used channels to enable them to do so
Of course, foreign countries have a right to have their voices heard in Whitehall and Westminster. But there are legitimate and well-used channels to enable them to do so.

Probably no country in the world, barring perhaps the United States and former dominions such as Australia and New Zealand, is heard with such sympathy or finds such legitimate easy access as Israel does in the UK.

So it is particularly troubling that it should also exert improper influence. Patel's undisclosed meetings and Masot's clumsy manoeuvres fall well outside the legitimate bounds of diplomatic business.

The power of the Conservative Friends of Israel

I believe that it is time that a light was shone on this area. This is in part because it is essential that Britain should play the role of honest broker in the Middle East.

Of course, we should regard Israel as a friend, and stand up for its legitimate interests. But the Palestinians need to know that Britain is even-handed.

Eight years ago I presented a film for Channel 4 on the pro-Israel lobby at Westminster. I established that Polak, the then-director of Conservative Friends of Israel, had ready access to David Cameron. I reported how pro-Israel donors to the Conservative Party threatened to withdraw their funding when Tory policy in the Middle East displeased them.

There was a particularly explosive row after William Hague, then foreign secretary, criticised the 2006 Israel attack on Lebanon as "disproportionate". In the wake of this episode, Polak secured a meeting with Cameron in which the Tory leader promised the word "disproportionate" would never be used again.

Cameron's readiness to give in to this kind of pressure contrasted with his predecessor, Conservative Party leader Michael Howard. Howard, I was told, had always been scrupulously careful to keep his distance and maintain formal and proper relations with the Conservative Friends of Israel.

There was an explosive row after William Hague, then foreign secretary, criticised the 2006 Israel attack on Lebanon as 'disproportionate'
The CFI has been an especially powerful presence in the Conservative Party ever since the Cameron years. It can whistle up the foreign secretary or the prime minister to speak at its annual lunches at Westminster, as well as at the Tory Party conference and other events.

For example, current prime minister Theresa May was the guest speaker at last year's CFI lunch at the Plaza Hotel in central London. David Cameron, then still prime minister, gave the main address in 2015.

These annual lunches show the pulling power of Polak's CFI. Typically, they are attended by at least 100 Tory MPs, as well as peers, special advisers and party figures.

There is no question that it has been, for many years, one of the most important lobbying organisations in this country. An article in Haaretz by the well-informed journalist Anshel Pfeffer reveals the kind of influence exercised by the CFI:

"In March 2014, when then-Prime Minister David Cameron visited Israel, Polak and Conservative Party treasurer Andrew Feldman prevailed on Cameron to cut paragraphs criticizing Israel’s settlement policy from the prime minister’s Knesset speech."

Similarly, in an article in the Jerusalem Post in March 1995, historian and former Conservative MP Robert Rhodes James called it " the largest organisation in Western Europe dedicated to the cause of the people of Israel."

It is important to stress that there is nothing inherently wrong with any of this. Indeed, in the interests of transparency I should state that the CFI paid for me to visit Israel 10 years ago.

Undercover recordings revealed how Shai Masot sought to secretly influence British politics.

But the exercise of hidden influence is another matter. The meddling by Masot – an attempt by a foreign state to interfere directly in British politics - came close to espionage.

And I cannot for the life of me imagine what Stuart Polak - a man I know and like - was doing when he took Priti Patel on their private mission around Israel and the Golan Heights during the summer. For this little tour by Lord Polak - he was ennobled by Cameron in October 2015 - appears to have worked only too well.

We now know that Patel came back with a project to divert British aid to support an Israeli army project in the Golan Heights. If she is to have any future career at all, then Patel badly needs to come up with an explanation. So does Polak.

The need for balance

At the start of this year, Crispin Blunt, then chairman of the powerful backbench Foreign Affairs Committee, had the foresight to order an inquiry into British policy in the Middle East. He included in the remit of his investigation "how UK policy is influenced by other states and interests".

It is a great pity then that the first act of Blunt's successor, Tom Tugendhat, was to discontinue this investigation. Otherwise, both Patel and Polak could now be called before parliament to explain themselves. Blunt's proposed investigation could hardly have been more timely in the wake of the Patel and Masot episodes.

Many people believe that British policy towards Israel has been unbalanced for many years. This was all too evident at the dinner between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and May on 2 November to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration.


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and UK Prime Minister Theresa May in London on 2 November 2017 (AFP)
It’s not merely that there was no discernable Palestinian presence but that the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah was not even consulted about it. Crucially, May did not attend, nor send one of her ministers to attend, the Palestinian attempts to mark Balfour at the same time. And it remains extraordinary – and damnably wrong - that there is still no such body as the Conservative Friends of Palestine.

In the wake of Patel’s resignation this week, we urgently need a fresh look at British politics towards Israel. Tugendhat must re-open the inquiry he mistakenly closed two months ago.

In the conclusion to my study of the CFI, produced shortly before the Conservatives came to power, I called on the organisation to be "far more open about how it is funded and what it does”.

If Polak and the Conservatives had taken my advice then, they wouldn't be in this pickle now - and hapless Patel would still be in a job
I pointed out that this very secrecy could give rise to false conspiracy theories. The Patel episode demonstrates how right I was.

If Polak and the Conservatives had taken my advice then, they wouldn't be in this pickle now - and hapless Patel would still be in a job.

http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/pr ... 1883954823

[skinster]

^ The untold story: why Priti Patel’s departure is ‘a great loss for Israel’

[Decky]

^ The untold story: why Priti Patel’s departure is ‘a great loss for Israel’

I doubt it is that big a loss, her replacement will also but Isreal interests before the interests of the British people. Ever since D'Isreali was Tory leader it has been controled only by the forces of international big money.

[anarchist23]

I wouldn't be surprised if Theresa May is forced out in the next few months.
Forty Conservative MPs are reportedly prepared to sign a letter of no confidence in Theresa May, amid claims she is being held "hostage" by two members of her top team.

The disclosure in the Sunday Times will pile the pressure on the Prime Minister as she enters a crucial period in the Brexit negotiations and comes as she attempts to steady the ship following the resignations of two Cabinet ministers.

The total is eight short of the number needed to trigger a leadership contest under Conservative Party rules.

There was a mixed reaction to the news from prominent Tory MPs.

"I have not heard this", one told Sky News, while another said the 40 figure "doesn't sound right".

But others said it was "around that number" and it "porbably is (accurate)".

Meanwhile, the Mail on Sunday has obtained what it says is a leaked letter from Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, in which the two Vote Leave figureheads tell the PM how to deliver Brexit.

A senior Government source told the newspaper the memo represented a "soft coup" and showed Mrs May was "their Downing Street hostage".

Mr Johnson and Mr Gove have not spoken about the emergence of the document so far, while Number 10 said it did not comment on leaks.

According to the Mail, Mr Johnson and Mr Gove demand in the note that the Brexit transition must end on 30 June 2021 and call on the PM to ensure the Cabinet falls behind the Brexit plan by "clarifying their minds" and making sure they "internalise the logic".

The pair also appear to take a thinly veiled shot at the Remain-backing Chancellor Philip Hammond for lacking the "sufficient energy" in prepare for Britain's post-Brexit future.

EU says it's not too late to stop Brexit

Titled EU Exit - Next Steps and marked "For your and Gavin's eyes only", the letter states: "Your approach is governed by sensible pragmatism. That does not in any way dilute our ambition to be a fully independent self-governing country by the time of the next election.

"If we are to counter those who wish to frustrate that end, there are ways of underlining your resolve.

"We are profoundly worried that in some parts of Government the current preparations are not proceeding with anything like sufficient energy.

"We have heard it argued by some that we cannot start preparations on the basis of 'no deal' because that would undermine our obligation of 'sincere co-operation' with the EU. If taken seriously, that would leave us over a barrel in 2021.

"We all want you to push your agenda forward with confidence and have your Government articulate the following..."

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has piled in, calling on Mrs May to "govern or go".

He writes in an article in the Sunday Times: "Continuing uncertainty about the Government's approach to Brexit is now the biggest risk facing our country.

"The Prime Minister must end the confusion, take on the 'no-deal' extremists in her Government and back a jobs first Brexit for Britain."

https://news.sky.com/story/forty-conser ... o-11123282

[Atlantis]

The knifes are out at Westminster. Murdoch has sent his henchmen Gove and Johnson to do the dirty deed.

Theresa May’s position is unsustainable, yet she still can’t see it

UK government tensions rise after leak of Johnson-Gove letter to May

She can't sack ministers who sabotage her Brexit course, but she can't not sack them either for fear of appearing incredibly weak at the time she needs a strong hand in her talks with Brussels. A Tory government kept in power by the fear of Corbyn.

[QatzelOk]

...Since Patel is not Jewish, she has no particular reason to side with Israel...

Well, if she wants to be rich, powerful and famous, this might have been a good strategy... if it had been kept secret.

Look at Benjamin Disraeli. Benjamin Disraeli wasn't Jewish, but after writing a series of Super-Jew fiction stories, he became Prime Minister. All he had to do was to kiss the right asses.

It really is who you know (or who you blow, in Hollywood). Michel Foucault called this "vascular power."

[Politiks]

In a world of Merkel and Putin, May is not enough, they need a better one. But who? I don't see any of the current leaderships able to Govern Britain. There's also the JC risk, no one wants that deranged fool to gain more power