LONDON — One good thing for Theresa May about losing a second Cabinet minister in a week — at least she has another shot at getting the replacement right.
The departure on Wednesday night of International Development Secretary Priti Patel — a prominent figure on the ardently pro-Brexit wing of the Conservative Party — forces May to shuffle her ministerial team once again, just seven days after Michael Fallon stood down as defense secretary.
The two resignations came about for very different reasons. Patel went because of undisclosed meetings with top Israeli officials, Fallon quit over his conduct with women. But both added to the sense of a weak prime minister at the mercy of events that has surrounded May since she called a snap election in June only to lose her overall majority.
Now May has to try to preserve the delicate balance in her Cabinet between Brexiteers, who favor a clean break with Brussels, and Remainers, who campaigned to stay in the EU and want to maintain close ties with the bloc.
May has to pull off this feat at a time of acute difficulty for her government. Brexit talks with the EU are all but stalled, her ministers cannot agree on their post-Brexit vision, and the bill that will govern Britain’s withdrawal from the bloc is due back in the House of Commons next week — under threat from amendments by her own backbenchers.
Brexit is with us all the time — Tory MP Keith Simpson
She will need to display a sure touch that has been sorely lacking in recent months. Her choice of former chief whip Gavin Williamson to succeed Fallon as defense secretary went down extremely badly with febrile Tory backbenchers last Thursday.
Brexiteer backing
Patel quit on Wednesday night after the prime minister summoned her back from an official visit to Africa on the heels of more previously undisclosed meetings with Israeli officials coming to light.
May spared Patel the humiliation of a sacking, allowing her to bow out, but made it clear in response to the Essex MP’s resignation letter that she had to go.
“As you know, the U.K. and Israel are close allies and it is right that we should work closely together. But that must be done formally, through official channels,” the prime minister’s letter said.
Until Tuesday night when further revelations broke, May had been loath to sack Patel, accepting her initial apology at a meeting on Monday.
Priti Patel was a prominent figure on the ardently pro-Brexit wing of the Conservative Party | Carl Court/Getty Images
Patel enjoyed strong support from Tory Brexiteers, who had played down the significance of her actions.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, a prominent Brexiteer, said he was sorry Patel had gone. “She is a very able and a good spokesman for both the Tory party and Brexit,” he told POLITICO.
But James Cleverly, another strongly pro-Brexit MP, acknowledged Patel had “made an error of judgment,” tweeting on Wednesday night she did “the right thing by standing down.”
A former senior minister said Patel’s resignation could cause further problems for the government as it may rile Brexiteers and prompt them to step up attacks on Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, whom they regard as the champion of a soft Brexit.
“I think [Brexiteers] think this is part of some plot, so they’ll start briefing against the chancellor again,” the former minister said.
Question of balance
With Cabinet ministers who publicly campaigned to remain in the European Union outnumbering those who campaigned to leave, May is under pressure to replace Patel with a Brexit purist.
Even MPs who are not in the Brexit camp say May will have to choose a Brexiteer to succeed Patel just to keep the uneasy peace in the party.
Unfortunately for May, Fallon and Patel may not be the only ministers she loses this month.
“If she is replaced by someone who is promoted from outside the Cabinet — and it is going to have to be that — who is a pro-Brexiteer, that will rather calm things down and keep the balance in Cabinet,” said Keith Simpson, a long-serving Tory backbencher who was an aide to William Hague when he was foreign secretary.
Work and Pensions Minister Penny Mordaunt, an ally of Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, is one candidate strongly tipped for the job.
But outspoken Tory MP Sarah Wollaston, the chairwoman of the health select committee, said on Twitter the “obsession with Brexit/remain” needed to end. She suggested Development Minister Alistair Burt, who defended Patel in the House of Commons on Tuesday, should replace his former boss.
Simpson, however, said appointing Burt would shift the balance of power in the Cabinet and the divide over the European Union could not be ignored.
“Brexit is with us all the time,” he said.
Unfortunately for May, Fallon and Patel may not be the only ministers she loses this month.
Boris Johnson remains under pressure | Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Johnson remains under pressure after his suggestion a charity worker incarcerated in Iran had been teaching journalism before her arrest prompted claims she could be imprisoned for an extra five years as a result of the gaffe.
May’s de facto deputy Damian Green is still under investigation by the Cabinet Office as part of the sexual harassment scandal, although he strongly rejects accusations that pornography was found on one of his parliamentary computers and that he made unwanted advances to a female activist.
And those are just the potential pitfalls on May’s radar. A crisis that can’t even be foreseen right now would test her already-fragile premiership still further.
