Where's Priti Patel? Why everyone is wondering why we haven't heard from the home secretary recently

In recent weeks, the government has rolled out a number of its most senior officials.

There’s been a rotating cast of characters, from health secretary Matt Hancock to housing secretary Robert Jenrick making statements, giving interviews and generally updating the public on the state of play during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Which is why the absence of Home Secretary Priti Patel has gone very much noticed.

Patel’s brief covers all internal affairs for the UK, including immigration and national security.

So her lack of visibility is causing people to wonder.

It’s now come to light that Patel has turned down not one, but four invitations to appear in front of a select committee to discuss how she’s leading the Home Office response to coronavirus.

Yvette Cooper, the chair of the committee, revealed she’s written to Patel six times since January but Patel still hasn’t agreed to an appearance, even when offered the option of doing it remotely.

Now Cooper is insisting Patel appears by 15 April.

But apart from a tweet today about Passover, Patel has still made no public comment on the current crisis since a statement on 26 January.

Even Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden is getting involved instead, appearing on Sky News to assure everyone that there's "no issue" with Patel and she is apparently "100 per cent engaged" with the fight against coronavirus.

So why so quiet?

Time for a quarantine game of Where’s Wally! Let’s have a guess as to what is keeping Priti Patel away from the spotlight.

We’ve put together a few entirely hypothetical and speculative scenarios that could have caused the home secretary to hide herself away.

1. She’s avoiding bullying allegations

Although there have been a number of recent announcements from the home office in recent days, the last time Priti Patel was making major headlines was on 3 March, when a third civil servant came forward with accusations of historic bullying. Patel has now been alleged to have bullied, “harassed and belittled” staff during her time as home secretary, international development secretary and employment minister at the department of work and pensions.

The claims were made public after top civil servant Sir Phillip Rutnam dramatically resigned in late February, accusing Patel of a “orchestrating a vicious campaign” against him and “shouting and swearing, belittling people, making unreasonable and repeated demands – behaviour that created fear and that needed some bravery to call out”. Rutnam also said he’d be suing the government for constructive dismissal.

Funnily enough, Patel has coincidentally been keeping a very low profile since then, although she wholeheartedly “rejects” all claims made against her.

2. Those “low-skilled” workers turning out to be bedrock of the UK

In February Priti Patel proudly revealed the brand new “Australian-style” immigration points system the government was planning to introduce post-Brexit. It caused a large amount of uproar; workers earning under £25,000 a year were deemed “low-skilled” and would be refused entry to the country unless there was a specific shortage in their profession (e.g. nursing).

Many in the social and health care sectors warned it could absolutely decimate the workforce. And now the coronavirus pandemic seems to be proving that true. Not only is a cross-party lobby of MPs urging Patel to give all foreign nationals indefinite leave to remain, many of the workers classed as “low-skilled” (no Priti, they’re just low-paid. There’s a difference) have now proved absolutely crucial to keeping the country functioning. Supermarket workers, farm hands and bus drivers have all been recognised as absolutely essential to the UK’s operations in a crisis. CEOs? Not so much.

3. The police are being heavily criticised

Patel is, of course, broadly responsible for the UK police. So the recent criticism levelled at forces across the country who have become overexcited by their new powers of detention may have caused her to shy away from the spotlight.

Officers have been warned of “overreach” after several incidents of stringent policing, such as filming hikers with drones, preventing people resting on benches and telling shops to stop selling Easter eggs. The situation has drawn outrage from some who see their actions as overpolicing, while others say it’s necessary to prevent virus spread.

Patel has not been publicly asked about this issue, although she has tweeted in support of the police on a number of occasions.

4. She’s fallen victim to a terrible lockdown haircut

Alright, this one we can sympathise with.

Come back Priti.

We don’t exactly miss you but your presence is definitely required.