Last night, Priti Patel launched an attack on Ministers and MPs for her handling of the Migrant Crisis.
It came amid growing Cabinet concern over the Home Secretary’s seeming inability to resolve the Channel migrant crisis.
However, Ms Patel’s allies hit back last night, defending her record and accusing the French of refusing to cooperate.
When their dinghy crashed off Calais, twenty-seven migrants (including children) died.
After receiving a letter posted by Boris Johnson on Twitter and claiming that it was against protocol, Ms Patel cancelled her meeting with President Emmanuel Macron.
In a further escalation of rhetoric, Michel Barnier, the EU’s former Brexit negotiator, who is running in France’s presidential election, urged France to tear up its migrant treaty with the UK.
Last night, Priti Patel (49) launched an attack on Ministers and MPs for her handling of the Migrant Crisis.
After receiving an open letter by Boris Johnson, Ms. Patel cancelled her meeting with President Emmanuel Macron in Paris to discuss the crisis.
The Prime Minister is understood to have privately rebuked Ms Patel for failing to ‘get a grip’ on the issue, and was joined in his criticisms by other Ministers at a meeting in the wake of the drowning tragedy.
A source said: ‘She has had two years to sort this out, but the situation is worse than ever. She is happy to bask in the limelight when things are going well, but seems to go missing when it goes wrong.’
However, allies of Ms Patel hit back by blaming the French – and her ministerial colleagues.
A Home Office source said: ‘This letter debacle shows publicly what Priti has been battling against in private for the last two years. We’ve already made every offer the French Prime Minister made in his previous letter.
‘We could offer them a pot of unlimited gold and a magic wand to make this all stop and they would still find a reason to say no.
‘People say she should get a grip of the situation, and now they can all see for themselves what she’s up against.
‘Departments across Whitehall have sat on their hands for two years and it’s only now they are starting to even look at what our asks of them are.
‘What would anyone else have done differently? Two years ago, many people tried to soften what we had suggested.
‘It’s only thanks to Priti that offshoring and outsourcing even remain options’.
The flimsy and dangerous dinghy that sank off Calais on Wednesday, killing 27 people including seven women – one of whom was pregnant – and three children
Baran Nouri Hamadami (northern Iraqi) was pictured together with her husband. They were among 27 victims of the Calais tsunami earlier in this week.
On Wednesday, 27 migrants including children and women drowned when their boat sank in Calais. Pictured: The migrants prepare to cross Channel on November 24
According to reports, Ms Patel was particularly upset at the inaction of Dominic Raab (Justice Secretary), while he was Foreign Secretary.
On Friday, Mr Macron criticised Mr Johnson for breaking protocol by publicly posting his letter, which was addressed ‘Dear Emmanuel’.
The French President, who is gearing up for an election next year, said he would ‘work seriously to settle serious issues with serious people’, and ‘move forward efficiently with the British, if they decide to get serious’.
But the Prime Minister’s spokesman defended publishing the letter and said: ‘The public understandably want to know what we’re doing to prevent this from happening again.’
The Prime Minister is understood to have privately rebuked Ms Patel for failing to ‘get a grip’ on the issue, and was joined in his criticisms by other Ministers at a meeting in the wake of the drowning tragedy
Migrants set up camp on a railway line in Grande-Synthe near Calais after police smashed their previous camp
During this time, the Crisis has also divided Opposition.
Last night, some Labour MPs privately complained that the party was once again alienating its ‘patriotic’ working-class voters by appearing to side with the French President in the diplomatic spat over Mr Johnson’s letter.
They pointed to how Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds had described the French decision to cancel Priti Patel’s invitation to talks as ‘a humiliation’ for Mr Johnson and his Home Secretary.
The former Labour Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who is now chief executive of the International Rescue Mission, said that Mr Johnson’s letter to the French President was ‘unwise’.
One senior Labour MP said last night: ‘The party’s making a mistake here – the working-class vote will support Boris on this.’