Priti Patel has resigned as Home Secretary and will be returning to the backbenches from Tuesday as Liz Truss begins to change the guard in the Tory cabinet.
The controversial Home Secretary is tipped to be replaced by Suella Braverman, the former Attorney General, in a reshuffle that will be completed on Wednesday ahead of Truss’s first appearance at Prime Minister’s Questions.
Patel defended her record over the past three years and told opposition MPs to “shut up” in angry exchanges in the Commons as she set out her legacy on Monday afternoon.
Heckled by Labour, Lib Dem and SNP MPs on the opposition benches, Patel fired back: “Shut up” – before saying she had been “proud” to serve in Boris Johnson’s government.
Patel presided over a get tough policy on migrant boat crossings in the English Channel and attempted to introduce a highly-controversial policy to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Legal challenges have so far prevented any deportations going ahead.
Asked by Green MP Caroline Lucas if the government might consider dropping the “immoral” plan, Patel said: “Absolutely not – the immoral aspect is the role of people smugglers”.
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