Boris Johnson has been accused of double standards by telling ministers and senior civil servants there is “no place for bullying” after refusing to sack Home Secretary Priti Patel.
The Prime Minister and the cabinet secretary, Simon Case, wrote a joint email on Monday calling for relationships of “mutual trust and respect between politicians and their officials”.
But the move came after the PM defended Patel against against an official investigation that found she was involved in bullying staff in three government departments.
The prime minister’s adviser on ministerial standards quit his post after Johnson rejected his findings.
Johnson wrote: “There is a particular duty on ministers and permanent secretaries to create jointly across government a culture which is professional, respectful, focused and ambitious for change in which there is no place for bullying.”
Johnson added that he has “full confidence” in Patel and that he considers “this matter now closed”.
Dave Penman, the head of the FDA union that represents senior civil servants, said the Prime Minister’s latest words would do little to reassure public servants.
He said: "In August 2019 he set out, in precise terms in the foreword to the ministerial code, that 'there must be no bullying and no harassment'
"In the first test of his commitment to these words, he has transparently chosen partisan political interest over the interests of the victims of the home secretary's behaviour as well as the broader standards that should rightly be expected of ministers."
Penman added: "If the prime minister was serious about his commitment to these standards, he would introduce an independent and transparent process for dealing with these complaints, that was free from the political interference he has so blatantly shown in regard to the home secretary."
Labour said Patel should resign or be sacked just like any other minister found to have breached the Ministerial Code.
The Home Secretary apologised on Friday and again on Monday after the long-awaited Cabinet Office inquiry, which Johnson sat on for months, found she broke the Code.
