Thread of Stephen Pollard's Analysis:
Last night I wrote on the JC site that something didn’t add up about Number Ten’s claim that it had no idea about Priti Patel’s meetings with senior Israelis.
Last night I wrote on the JC site that something didn’t add up about Number Ten’s claim that it had no idea about Priti Patel’s meetings with senior Israelis.
As I put it “Well before last week's James Landale scoop about Ms Patel's meetings with Israeli politicians, I was told very matter of factly that there would soon be an announcement of cooperation between the UK and Israel over aid in Africa, that we would divert some of our aid
money to the Israelis to fund some of their aid work there. I was told that it had been signed off between DfID and Number Ten, but that the FCO had kicked off because it felt its toes were being trodden on.”
After that story went up, I was contacted by two senior and reliable sources.
Both gave exactly the same story: that although Patel had clearly messed up and had to go, the real story was about Number 10.
Both gave exactly the same story: that although Patel had clearly messed up and had to go, the real story was about Number 10.
Far from being unaware, Number 10 knew in full about her meeting with Mr Netanyahu, because Ms Patel had discussed it with the Prime Minister in September, prior to the UN General Assembly.
I then discovered this morning that Number 10 had been told by Ms Patel about her meeting with Israeli foreign office official Yuval Rotem in New York & had specifically asked her not to include it. It is a truism that with most scandals, the real fallout comes from the cover up.
My revelations today mean that there are some serious questions for Number 10 to answer about who knew what, when – including the PM.
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