Home Office ad seeks candidate for £85,000-a-year job ‘actively tackling bullying’

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The Home Office’s latest job advert says the £85,000-a-year digital strategist must ‘actively tackle bullying’ in the department in the wake of a report that found Home Secretary Priti Patel had bullied civil servants. 

The ‘Head of Home Office Strategy’ ad is looking for someone to ‘champion an inclusive culture by actively tackling bullying, harassment and discrimination’ and ‘support the health, safety and wellbeing of all staff’.

It was posted to the department’s LinkedIn page at around noon yesterday and is also listed on the Civil Service jobs page. 

Described under the list of ‘desirable criteria’, applicants are also expected to show ‘a track record of embedding internal change capability, both cultural and behavioural, that works at all levels of a complex organisation.’ 

The ad comes just days after Boris Johnson’s standards tsar resigned amid reports he was pressured by the Prime Minister to water down a report on Miss Patel’s behaviour with civil servants across three departments. 

Yesterday Sir Philip Rutnam, the former Home Office permanent secretary whose resignation led to the probe, was branded a ‘snowflake’ by furious peers. 

In a debate on the Ministerial Code, Lord Howard, the former Tory Party leader, said Sir Philip had ‘brought even further disgrace’ on the Civil Service by ‘rubbishing’ the Home Secretary live on television earlier this year. 

‘My Lords, just as Ministers take responsibility for their department, good or bad, so civil servants do not publicly criticise their Ministers,’ he thundered. 

‘Does the Minister agree that Sir Philip Rutnam behaved disgracefully badly when he crossed that boundary by rubbishing a Secretary of State?

‘He brought even further disgrace on our superb Civil Service by appearing on television. 

‘Does the Minister agree that in future snowflakes should be barred from being Permanent Secretaries or, indeed, holding any other senior position in the Civil Service?’

Lord True, the Minister, responded by saying that he had ‘not known many snowflakes in either’ government or the Civil Service.

The long-awaited probe into Miss Patel’s behaviour at three departments ruled she ‘had not met the requirements of the ministerial code to treat civil servants with consideration and respect’. 

An investigation was launched in March after Ms Patel allegedly belittled colleagues and clashed with senior officials.   

Ms Patel is said to have told civil servants they were ‘f****** useless’, with further details of Miss Patel’s behaviour also emerging on Monday, including claims of multiple examples of ‘shouting, screaming and swearing’. 

She has apologised and said she ‘never intentionally set out to upset anyone’. 

Despite the bullying report’s findings, Mr Johnson refused to fire Ms Patel and reportedly pressured his standards advisor Sir Alex Allan, who quit on Friday, to water down his report on the Home Secretary’s alleged behaviour. 

Downing Street did not deny claims Mr Johnson had tried and failed to convince Sir Alex to tone down his conclusion.  

The Mirror reported on Monday that three Home Office staff were sacked in 2019, with nine more being fired in 2018, after attaining the information through a freedom of information request.

According to the newspaper, each of the firings were for ‘bullying, harassment, discrimination or offensive behaviour’. A further 19 staff receiving ‘formal action,’ over there behaviour between 2018 and 2019.  

There is mounting pressure over the Home Secretary’s position.

Lucy Powell, shadow business minister, told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge yesterday: ‘If you are found of breaking the ministerial code, your position is completely untenable. I think it’s appalling the Prime Minister has decided to back her instead of sacking her.’

The Prime Minister last week rejected official advice that Miss Patel had broken the ministerial code of conduct by bullying officials in three departments. 

But despite the Prime Minister backing her in the scandal, Ms Patel could face the axe as Home Secretary and be made Tory chairman in a New Year reshuffle,sources told The Sunday Times. 

While Mr Johnson had told MPs to ‘form a square around the Prittster’, he is said to have tired of her failure to tackle the surge of migrants arriving in the UK by boat. 

‘The view of the political operation in No 10 was that she should be protected,’ a senior Tory told the paper. ‘But there is also a view that she should be reshuffled on competence grounds. 

‘There is continual frustration that the Home Office has not got a grip on things, the small boats in particular.’

Policing minister Kit Malthouse, who is a confidant of the PM, is favourite to take over, the paper reported. Michael Gove and Dominic Raab are also understood to be in the frame.

Miss Patel, who is popular with the Tory grassroots, is tipped to be made Tory party chairman. 

Sources did not deny the reports, but said that conversations about a reshuffle were far too premature.