Priti Patel


Dame Priti Patel

Official portrait, 2021
Shadow Foreign Secretary
Assumed office
4 November 2024
LeaderKemi Badenoch
Preceded byAndrew Mitchell
Home Secretary
In office
24 July 2019 – 6 September 2022
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded bySajid Javid
Succeeded bySuella Braverman
Member of Parliament
for Witham
In office
6 May 2010 – 8 November 2017
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byConstituency established
Majority5,145 (10.2%)[1]
Personal details
Born
Priti Sushil Patel

(1972-03-29) 29 March 1972 (age 52)
London, England
Political partyConservative (1991–1995; since 1997)
Other political
affiliations
Referendum (1995–1997)
Spouse(s)
Alex Sawyer
(m. 2004)
Children1
Alma mater

Priti Sushil Patel[2] (born 29 March 1972) is a British politician who has been the Shadow Foreign Secretary since 2024. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Witham in Essex since 2010. She was International Development Secretary from 2016 to 2017. In July 2019, Patel became Home Secretary for the Boris Johnson administration. Patel is a member of the Conservative Party. Her ideas and policies are inspired by Margaret Thatcher.

Patel, a Eurosceptic was a strong supporter of the Brexit campaign in 2016. During her time as Home Secretary, Patel was criticized for her handling of immigration issues and for her asylum deal with Rwanda. During her career, she has been accused of breaking the ministerial code several times.

After the resignation of Rishi Sunak as leader of the Conservative Party in July 2024, Patel announced she would run to be the new Tory leader and Leader of the Opposition in the 2024 Conservative Party leadership election. She was eliminated from the election in the first round of voting in early September 2024. In November 2024, she was appointed to the shadow cabinet of Kemi Badenoch as the Shadow Foreign Secretary.

  1. "Election results 2024: Witham". BBC News. Archived from the original on 20 June 2024. Retrieved 29 July 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  2. "House of Commons Hansard Debates for 19 May 2015 (pt 0001)". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 19 May 2015. Archived from the original on 4 April 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2016.

Developed by StudentB