Philip Rutnam: why I am taking the government to court

I have this morning resigned as permanent secretary of the Home Office. I take this decision with great regret, after a career of 33 years. I’m making the statement now because I will be issuing a claim against the Home Office for constructive dismissal. In the last ten days, I had been the target of a vicious and orchestrated briefing campaign. It has been alleged that I have briefed the media against the Home Secretary. This, along with many other claims, is completely false. The Home Secretary categorically denied any involvement in this campaign to the Cabinet Office. I regret I do not believe her. She has not made the efforts I would expect to disassociate herself from the comments. Even despite this campaign, I was willing to effect a reconciliation with the Home Secretary, as requested by the Cabinet Secretary on behalf of the Prime Minister. But despite my efforts to engage with her, Priti Patel has made no effort to engage with me to discuss this.