Boris Johnson should suspend Priti Patel from government and hold investigation into bullying claims, demands McDonnell

Boris Johnson should hold an independent investigation into bullying claims levelled against Priti Patel and suspend her from government during the process, Labour’s John McDonnell has demanded.

The remarks follow the unprecedented resignation of the most senior civil servant at the Home Office, Sir Philip Rutnam, who accused the cabinet minister of lying and orchestrating a “vicious” briefing campaign against him.

In an extraordinary televised statement on Saturday, Sir Philip said he would sue the government for constructive dismissal and claimed he had been told details of Ms Patel’s conduct, including “shouting and swearing” and “belittling” officials.

Mr Johnson told reporters, during a visit to Public Health England in north London on Sunday, he was fully behind Ms Patel.

He said: “I absolutely do have confidence in Priti Patel. I think she is a fantastic home secretary.

“It is never an easy job, as anyone who has been home secretary will testify. It is one of the toughest jobs in government.

“There is a big, big task ahead of us now. We are delivering, at last, a new immigration system for this country, a points-based immigration system. That will take a lot of work by the Home Office, a fantastic department.“

He also said he was “full of admiration” for the work of the civil service, adding: “We politicians could not begin to accomplish things without the fantastic, absolutely brilliant alpha minds in the civil service. We depend on them.”

Matt Hancock, the health secretary, rallied to Ms Patel’s defence on Sunday, insisting she was “extremely courteous” in dealings with colleagues and was a “very determined home secretary”.

But Mr McDonnell added his voice to growing calls for the prime minister to launch an investigation into the claims against Ms Patel and for her to appear before MPs in the Commons on Monday and explain her conduct.

Responding to Sir Philip’s claims, the shadow chancellor told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge programme that “he can’t see” the cabinet minister remaining in position. “I was a civil servant before I became a politician – and when you get a civil servant going public like this, it’s unprecedented. I can’t remember a case like this,” he said.

“It looks as though she’s on the way out,” he added. “Within a couple of months he [Boris Johnson] has lost his chancellor and now it looks as though he’s going to lose his home secretary as well.”

“You don’t go into abuse – that’s what the allegation is here. Swearing, shouting and abusing people and bullying people. You don’t go into that. So there’s something seriously wrong here.

“One of the ways the prime minister could go forward is have an independent investigation, but during that period you’d have to suspend the home secretary whilst that went on.”

Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme about the resignation of the senior official, Mr Hancock said: “Priti is a very determined home secretary.

“She is probably closer to where the public are on the issues of law and order than any home secretary in recent history. I think she drives things forward. I also think she is extremely courteous, and in every dealing I’ve had with her she has been very courteous.

“I can’t get into the details of the case, not least because it looks like it might be going to court, and I’m not close to it.”

So far, Ms Patel has not publicly commented on the allegations from Sir Philip and his explosive resignation on Saturday, but a No 10 source told The Independent that the prime minister “has total confidence in every one of his cabinet ministers”.

The cabinet secretary Sir Mark Sedwill issued a brief statement about two hours after Sir Philip quit, saying he had accepted his resignation “with great regret”, adding: “I thank him for his long and dedicated career of public service.”