Priti Patel, Date of Birth, Place of Birth
TweetPriti Patel
British politician
Date of Birth: 29-Mar-1972
Place of Birth: London
Profession: politician
Nationality: United Kingdom
Zodiac Sign: Aries 
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About Priti Patel
- Priti Sushil Patel (born 29 March 1972) is a British politician who has served as Home Secretary since 2019 and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Witham since 2010.
- She was International Development Secretary from 2016 to 2017.
- A member of the Conservative Party, she is ideologically positioned on the party's right wing and identifies as a Thatcherite. Patel was born in London to a Ugandan-Indian family.
- She was educated at Keele University and the University of Essex.
- Inspired to get involved in politics by Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, she was initially involved with the Referendum Party before switching allegiance to the Conservatives.
- She worked for the public-relations consultancy firm Weber Shandwick for several years, as part of which she lobbied for the tobacco and alcohol industries.
- Intending to switch to a political career, she unsuccessfully contested Nottingham North at the 2005 general election.
- After David Cameron became Conservative leader, he recommended Patel for the party's "A-List" of prospective candidates.
- She was first elected MP for Witham, a Conservative safe seat in Essex, at the 2010 general election, before being re-elected in 2015 and 2017.
- Under Cameron's government, Patel was appointed Minister of State for Employment and served as vice-chair of the Conservative Friends of Israel.
- She attracted attention for her socially conservative stances. A longstanding Eurosceptic, Patel was a leading figure in the Vote Leave campaign during the build-up to the 2016 referendum on UK membership of the European Union.
- Following Cameron's resignation, Patel backed Theresa May as Conservative leader; May subsequently appointed Patel Secretary of State for International Development.
- In 2017 she was involved in a political scandal involving unauthorised meetings with the Government of Israel, ending her tenure as International Development Secretary.
- Under Boris Johnson's premiership, she became Home Secretary in 2019, the first ethnic minority woman to hold the office. A controversial figure, Patel has been criticised by political opponents for defending the tobacco and alcohol industries, and for advocating threatening the Republic of Ireland with food shortages during Brexit negotiations.
- Patel said her comments were "taken out of context" and that she did not refer specifically to the risk of food shortages.
Read more at Wikipedia