Priti Patel resigns as UK minister over Israel trip row

TIL Desk/World/London/ Britain’s senior-most Indian-origin minister Priti Patel has resigned from her Cabinet post over her unauthorised secret meetings with Israeli politicians while on a holiday in the Jewish country.

Patel’s position as international development minister had become increasingly untenable after it emerged that she had two further meetings with Israeli officials that were not disclosed through the proper procedure.

The 45-year-old minister resigned late last night after a meeting at Downing Street with Prime Minister Theresa May. In her resignation, Patel again apologised and said her actions “fell below the standards of transparency and openness that I have promoted and advocated”.

It follows a week of controversies around a dozen undisclosed meetings she had with other Israelis, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for which she had been forced to apologise.

Her departure from the Cabinet marks an abrupt halt to the meteoric rise of the Gujarati-origin MP, often touted as a potential future leader of the Conservative party and a prime ministerial candidate.