An investigation into allegations of bullying by Home Secretary Priti Patel will not be published in full, Downing Street has said.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman refused to say if any of its findings will be published before Parliament’s summer recess which begins this Wednesday.
Boris Johnson has insisted in the past that he will “stick with Prit” after the Tory minister became the subject of a Cabinet Office probe into whether she bullied staff at the Home Office.
Asked if the report would be released before recess, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “It’s ongoing - I don’t have anything more for you.”
Pressed on whether a summary would be published, he said: “I don’t think we have said we would publish a summary of it. I think we have said we will set out the findings in public.”
The investigation followed the explosive resignation of her most senior official in February.
Sir Philip Rutnam, who was Permanent Secretary at the Home Office, has lodged a separate employment tribunal claim. He has accused Patel of bullying staff and claimed he was the victim of a “vicious and orchestrated” briefing campaign by her allies.
She also faces separate complaints about mistreating staff from her time at the Department for International Development and the Department for Work and Pensions.
The senior Tory has always strenuously denied any allegations of bullying but the long delay in publishing the report has prompted speculation that No10 is paving the way for Patel to be cleared of all wrongdoing.
Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said: “This is an outrageous attempt by the Conservatives to try and cover up the actions of the Home Secretary.
“The review is massively delayed, having been underway for months and now they are trying to get away with hiding the full report form the public.”
Helen MacNamara, the senior civil servant responsible for the investigation, is also reportedly being moved from her post to another Whitehall department.
