Priti Patel's future uncertain over 'secret' Israel meetings

Priti Patel, Britain's senior-most Indian-origin minister could be sacked from the Cabinet after it emerged that she misled Prime Minister Theresa May over further unauthorised secret meetings with Israeli politicians, according to media reports on Wednesday.

Priti Patel and British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson leave after attending a cabinet meeting. FILE PIC/AFP

Patel, the international development minister, has cut short an official trip to Uganda and Ethiopia to rush back to London "at the request of the PM". The minister's sudden return comes after her department admitted that Patel held two further meetings in September, which she failed to disclose when rebuked by May on Monday. Downing Street, which has declined to comment further on the matter, had earlier said that PM May had accepted Patel's apology over a series of meetings while she was on a holiday in Israel in August, without reporting them to the Foreign Office.

But new revelations about her further meetings with Israeli officials following that visit have made her position very precarious.