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February 29, 2020The British Civil Ministry's highest "civil servant", Director-General Sir Philip Rutnam, has announced his resignation and a lawsuit against the London government for compelling him to make this decision.

Rutnam said he was "the subject of an orchestrated and malicious campaign" in which he was accused of having denigrated Minister Priti Patel by speaking to various journalists, a "completely false" accusation. "The interior minister has categorically denied any involvement in this campaign. Unfortunately I don't believe her," he said. "It didn't make the efforts I would have expected to dissociate itself from those words," he added. Rutnam said he attempted a reconciliation with Patel at the request of Prime Minister Boris Johnson. "But despite my best efforts to confront her, Priti Patel has done nothing to confront me on this matter."

This, according to the senior official, offers him "a very solid basis" to sue the government for bullying. Rutnam added that the treatment received "falls under widespread government behavior." The tensions between Patel and his general manager came to light last week when several media outlets wrote about it. Rutnam at a police conference in London on Thursday downplayed saying "you've probably heard more about the general manager in the past few days than you ever expected." But today, in a statement to the BBC, Rutnam did not hold back his anger. The former Home Office executive said he received complaints about Patel's behavior that "screams, insults and mistreats people, with unreasonable and repeated requests."

"One of my duties as manager is to protect the health and well-being of our 35 thousand people. This has created tensions with the minsitra and I have encouraged her to change her behavior. I have received accusations that her behavior has involved screams, insults , mistreatment of people with unreasonable and repeated requests - a behavior that created fear and that required courage to be denounced ". Rutnam said the government offered him a financial deal to avoid public resignation, but added that he hoped that his stance "will help maintain the quality of government in this country."

Home Office boss Sir Philip Rutman quits after clash with Priti Patel over huge Brexit workload https://t.co/UG4q8kbWzN pic.twitter.com/6OqXJmmgeY

- The Sun (@TheSun) February 29, 2020