Around the time of the recent Tory Party conference, the Sunday Times published a profile of the home secretary, Priti Patel. A surprise appointment at the Home Office, Patel is known as an ardent Brexiteer who had been sacked from previous ministerial office by the then prime minister, Theresa May. Patel made it clear in the article that, having got the job, her modus operandi was going to be a hardball approach to immigration. On claims of her bullying officials in pursuit of that aim, she is reported as having said that she is not in her role to be liked, she is there to get things done.

Sadly, her zeal to curb immigration could seriously impact upon the prime minister’s pledge to build, build, build - a key element of the recovery plan for our emergence from the pandemic recession and something on which he has staked his personal reputation.

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