Priti Patel

Biography

Priti Patel was born in London in 1972 to a family of Gujarati descent that had come to Britain from Uganda. She studied economics at Keele University and British government and politics at the University of Essex, and joined the Conservative Party in 1991.

After an internship at Conservative Central Office she ran the press office of the Referendum Party from 1995 to 1997, then returned to the Conservatives to work in William Hague's press office. She later worked in public relations and corporate affairs, including at the PR firm Weber Shandwick and the drinks company Diageo.

Patel was elected MP for Witham in 2010 and co-wrote Britannia Unchained. She was Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury and then employment minister, campaigned for Vote Leave in the 2016 referendum, and became international development secretary under Theresa May, resigning in 2017 over undisclosed meetings with Israeli officials.

Boris Johnson appointed her home secretary in 2019. She introduced a points-based immigration system, signed the agreement to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, and approved Julian Assange's extradition, and was found to have breached the ministerial code over bullying. She resigned in September 2022, stood unsuccessfully for the party leadership in 2024, and served as shadow foreign secretary until August 2026.