It is hard not to feel sorry for Priti Patel. She would surely have been a Tory conference darling at the gathering that never happened back in autumn 2020 at the height of the pandemic.
Back then she always came towards the top of cabinet ministers’ popularity in the monthly survey conducted by the Conservative Home website. But this year the Home Secretary’s ratings have dropped like a stone. She currently sits in 29th place, staring up in envy at such magnetic figures as Alok Sharma and Alister Jack and without even the comfort of knowing that there is always Gavin Williamson to look down on.
In the mini-hall being used for cabinet minister speeches at conference this year, she was received warmly enough as she strode onto the stage. But the applause that punctuated her speech was thin and dutiful. The only rousing cheer came when she observed that there was no reason for any asylum seeker to come to Britain directly from France.
Last year she promised to make cross-Channel migration ‘totally non-viable’ within months.
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