Priti Patel who was a Conservative MP for the Witham constituency in Essex since 2010, had to resign from her position as the Secretary of State for International

Development , after holding 12 meeting with Israeli politicians without informing the British government.

She was notorious to be a leading figure of the leave campaign during the Brexit referendum.

She was appointed as International Development Secretary in the summer of 2016, by Theresa May.

Last August, when Patel was in Israel for what she said to be a family trip she held 12 meetings with major figures of the Israeli politics, including Benjamin Netanyahu, Gilad Erdan, Yair Lapid.

She did not inform the foreign office of any of the aforementioned meetings.

A spokesman for Patel said that UK interests were not damaged or affected by the meetings on this visit.

Ms Patel was summoned back to London from Kenya where she landed at around 7pm of November 8 and the same day she had resigned.

More than 22,000 people were following Patel’s flight back to London.

Some lines of Patel’s resignation say: “Dear Prime Minister, it has been a tremendous privilege to serve in your Cabinet since you became Prime Minister in July 2016…

While my actions were meant with the best of intentions, my actions also fell below the standards of transparency and openness that I have promoted and advocated… I offer a fulsome apology to you and to the government for what has happened and offer my resignation.”

The Prime Minister replied by saying:

“Thank you for your letter following our meeting this evening confirming your resignation as Secretary of State for International Development. As you know, the UK and Israel are close allies, and it is right that we should work closely together. But that must be done formally, and through official channels.

“That is why, when we met on Monday, I was glad to accept your apology and welcomed your clarification about your trip to Israel over the summer.

Now that further details have come to light, it is right that you have decided to resign and adhere to the high standards of transparency and openness that you have advocate…”

After Priti Patel resignation, Penny Mordaunt took her place in May’s Cabinet as Secretary of State for International Development.

What are your thoughts on this? And do you think Priti Patel made the right decision to resign?

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