page_title: Priti Patel
section_title: Secretary of State for International Development: 2016–2017
hierarchical_section_title: Priti Patel / Parliamentary career / Secretary of State for International Development: 2016–2017
caption_attribution_description: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in London, 12 November 2015.
context_page_description: Priti Sushil Patel is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for the Home Department since 2019 and the Member of Parliament for Witham since 2010. Patel served as Secretary of State for International Development from 2016 to 2017. A member of the Conservative Party, she is ideologically positioned on the party's right wing and considers herself to be a Thatcherite.
  Patel was born in London to a Ugandan-Indian family. She was educated at Keele University and the University of Essex. Inspired to get involved in politics by Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, she was initially involved with the Referendum Party before switching allegiance to the Conservatives. She worked for the public-relations consultancy firm Weber Shandwick for several years, as part of which she lobbied for the tobacco and alcohol industries. Intending to switch to a political career, she unsuccessfully contested Nottingham North at the 2005 general election. After David Cameron became Conservative leader, he recommended Patel for the party's "A-List" of prospective candidates.
context_section_description: After becoming Prime Minister, in July 2016 May appointed Patel to the position of International Development Secretary. According to the New Statesman, some staff at the department were concerned about Patel's appointment, because of her support for Brexit and her longstanding scepticism regarding international development and aid spending.
  On taking the position, Patel stated that too much UK aid was wasted or spent inappropriately, declaring that she would adopt an approach rooted in "core Conservative principles" and emphasise international development through trade as opposed to aid. In September, Patel announced that the UK would contribute £1.1 billion to a global aid fund used to combat malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS, and added that any further aid deals would include "performance agreements" meaning that the British Government could reduce aid by 10% if specific criteria were not met by the recipient country.
  In September 2016, she expressed opposition to the construction of 28 affordable homes at the Lakelands development in Stanway, referring to it as an "unacceptable loss of open space" and criticising Colchester Borough Council for permitting it. That same month, the council's chief executive Adrian Pritchard issued a complaint against Patel, claiming that she had acted "inappropriately" in urging Sajid Javid to approve the construction of an out-of-town retail park after it had already been rejected by Colchester Council.
  Patel was critical of the UK's decision to invest DFID funds to support the Palestinian territories through UN agencies and the Palestinian Authority. In October 2016, she ordered a review of the funding procedure, temporarily freezing approximately a third of Britain's aid to the Palestinians during the review. In December 2016, DFID announced significant changes concerning future funding for the Palestinian Authority. DFID stated that future aid would go "solely to vital health and education services, in order to meet the immediate needs of the Palestinian people and maximise value for money." This move was widely supported by Jewish groups, including the Jewish Leadership Council and the Zionist Federation.
  In January 2017, Patel and the Labour MEP Neena Gill were the two UK winners of the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, the highest honour that the Indian government gives to non-resident Indians or people of Indian origin. She was given the award for her public service. In the June snap general election, she was re-elected as MP for Witham with a majority 18,646 votes.
  In March 2020, it was reported that while serving as International Development Secretary Patel was alleged to have "harassed and belittled" staff in her private office in 2017.
caption: Patel greeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Heathrow Airport on 12 November 2015.
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