Priti Patel Resigns as UK Home Secretary as Liz Truss Set to Form New Cabinet

Priti Patel has resigned as UK home secretary following Liz Truss' victory in the Conservative Party leadership race.

In a letter to outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Patel wrote that "it has been the honour of my life to serve our country as home secretary for the last three years," but from now on she would "champion many of the policies and causes I have stood up for" from the backbenches.

"I congratulate Liz Truss on being elected our new Leader, and will give her my support as our new Prime Minister. It is my choice to continue my public service to the country and the Witham constituency from the backbenches, once Liz formally assumes office and a new Home Secretary is appointed," Patel wrote.

Patel heaped praise on Johnson, who, according to her, became prime minister when the British political system was "broken" and parliament was "tearing itself apart," yet he managed to "get Brexit done."

"You set out a clear plan to get Brexit done, broke the deadlock in Parliament, and secured a historic Conservative victory at the 2019 General Election, winning the largest share of the vote for a political party since Margaret Thatcher."

In the letter, she described a number of policies the Boris Johnson government implemented throughout her three-year stint as Home Secretary, such as the "historic Immigration Act" that "has ended free movement and taken back control of our borders," as well as reforms in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act and the Public Order Bill.

"Over the last three years, our approach to reforming immigration laws and fixing our broken asylum system has been firm and fair. I know how frustrating the issue of Channel crossings has been. This is why we fully reviewed all aspects of Channel operations covering 'push backs' at sea and military interceptions in the Channel. This led to investments in new measures to prevent crossings and improved our cooperation with the French authorities," she penned.

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Patel also praised the controversial Rwanda plan that intends to take some asylum seekers who cross the Channel to the UK on a one-way ticket to the African nation to claim asylum there instead.

"In April, I secured the world-first Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda. The partnership with Rwanda is part of a wider strategy, which includes domestic reforms to build Greek style reception centers in the UK to detain and remove migrants, and my planned legislation to reform the National Referral Mechanism and Modern Day Slavery Act, ending the legal merry go round of barriers which stop the Government from removing migrants from the UK. This package of measures will lead to lasting reforms to the UK's asylum and removal system."

Patel's decision to step down comes as Liz Truss is due to form a new Cabinet on September 6, after being formally appointed the country's next minister by the Queen. It's been widely rumored that Johnson's successor would name Attorney General Suella Braverman, who also took part in the Tory leadership contest, Home Secretary.

Priti Patel has been the Member of Parliament for WItham since 2010 and was among the most staunch Leavers during the 2016 referendum on UK membership of the European Union. Under Theresa May's government, Patel was appointed Secretary of State for International Development, however, a political scandal involving unauthorized meetings with Israeli politicians that breached the ministerial code forced her to resign.

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When Boris Johnson succeeded Theresa May in 2019, Patel became Home Secretary. Over the past three years, she has come under much criticism for failing to tackle increasing crime rate and the English Channel migrant crossings, the controversy-stricken Rwanda asylum deal, and for approving the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States. She was also found of having breached the ministerial code once again by bullying Home Office employees.