Priti Patel is doomed to failure

Priti Patel is a boxer. At once a brawler and a punchbag, she is tenacious and tough, with a waspish air of malice, not to mention the smirking expression of someone who knows they can

inflict an exquisite amount of damage.

But like all boxers, she is a tragic figure. For a boxer is only ever useful to themselves and others while they can fight — enduring all that punishment to be left standing at the end, arm

aloft, only for as long as their frame holds out. They exist for the entertainment — and profit — of others in a way few sportsmen and women do, to take on more rigorous harm than almost any

other profession; their destruction is essential for everyone in and around the ring to make money. They undergo lives of brutality one would not wish on a human — and for all the riches

and platitudes that come their way, for all the sense of physical power, their daily routine is one of blows and dodges, wallops and weaves.

And, at the end, there are very few who end up in something approaching a dignified state. Worn out, broken, their minds so often detached from their bodies, and their bodies barely attached

at all. Forgotten by all except those around them, for whom no amount of money or column inches can bring solace, with just old photographs by which to remember the glory days.

That is the future that lies ahead for Patel. At least, that is what her career is now — a wrecking ball to do the bidding of this government at the department she has been given.

In any other political lifespan, she would not have become home secretary. That statement is not based on her aptitude — nothing that has gone before suggests she is particularly inept at

running a department — but on the disgrace she brought upon herself in her previous role as international development secretary. During her tenure, she was summoned, very publicly, back to

London from East Africa, following revelations she had held meetings with Israeli officials that went well beyond her brief, including with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

She did all this without informing her own prime minster, Theresa May.

Her behaviour may betray a lack of judgement, recklessness, or a streak of brazenness. But though many thought her finished, it may well have been this incident that got her the Home Office.

That her career was on the ropes makes her elevation all the more remarkable — and clearly means she has several people to whom she is in debt. But when one looks at her past, and the size

of the job she has been given, it becomes clear she has been handed a poisoned chalice. Few people, despite the size and prestige, would yearn for the Home Office in its current state.

This is a vast department considered unmanageable, and that was even before Brexit. Now, it has the added task of having to implement an array of new protocols, introduce a new points-based

immigration system, oversee the process of settling resident EU nationals — and on top of all that, has the thankless task of undoing the damage from the Windrush scandal. All that while

No.10 demands a streamlining of Whitehall. You can see why, when looking for candidates, a combative individual like Patel would be just the ticket.

Little wonder, then, that there are already stories of bullying. It’s a lot for anyone to take on — and one can imagine how much pressure the home secretary must be under. Add that to the

fact that, quite frankly, one can’t imagine too many members of the department are thrilled at what is being asked of them, and the fault lines are clear for all to see.

But Patel’s task was always going to be thankless, even without the bullying backlash. To get through all of the above will require a thick hide — and even then, it may be one that accrues

more damage than is tenable long term. She has been sent out to fight a number of battles, to prove her loyalty to the PM, but with the knowledge that though each individual round may be

overcome, the fight — her fight — will ultimately be lost.

In the end, Patel’s departure was never gong to be accelerated over accusations of meanness towards civil servants. It will come when she can soak up no more. At that point, having served

the government to the very limit, she will fall to the canvass, reshuffled to the back benches, to make way for some bright young thing in need of a promotion.

We all know that it ends badly, but we also know there are some punches in her yet, and plenty more punches to be taken. So, she will fight on: a career doomed to a drawn out in the

spotlight, gruelling, grinding, and ultimately futile.

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