The harassment of the Boris Johnson Government to its own officials has claimed a new and notorious victim: Philip Rutnam , hitherto "permanent" secretary of the Interior , has thrown in the towel protesting the "orchestrated campaign" against him and announced his intention to take the Government to court.

The fall of the highest official in the ranks was more than announced since Interior Secretary Priti Patel openly declared war on him and tried to force his resignation in December.

Rutnam's resignation comes two weeks after the fall of Treasury Secretary Sajid Javid, who presented his resignation for refusing to fire all of his special advisors.

The campaign of intimidation of officials is led by Dominic Cummings , a strategist at Johnson, accused of imposing the "law of terror" on Downing Street and Whitehall (the complex of government buildings).

Cummings has imposed the maximum "discipline in the message" of the Johnson Cabinet and is willing to pass the knife to the slightest hint of dissent. Johnson's advisor for everything, tanned in the Vote Leave campaign, is also behind the renewed push for hard Brexit in the negotiations with Brussels that start on Monday.

Blacklist

According to several British media, Cummings shuffles a blacklist of senior officials who will be forced to leave their posts. Philip Rutnam decided to step forward without waiting for the "kick," in a letter to the BBC, denouncing the "vicious campaign of intimidation" orchestrated by his superior, Preti Patel.

Rutnam, who leaves his post as an official after 33 years , has advanced his intention to take the Johnson Government to court, as well as Sonia Khan, the former special advisor to the Treasury Department who was forced to resign in August "escorted by an armed policeman. "

At the time of his departure, Rutnam has denounced that harassment of him at the hands of Preti Patel "is part of a broader pattern of the Government" to intimidate officials.

Rutnam has accused Patel of "shouting, belittling, verbally harassing and making unreasonable demands" on officials. The former "permanent" interior secretary says he tried to reduce tensions in the department and make peace with Patel, who has flatly denied the accusations and blamed Rutnam for blocking and hindering his initiatives from within the ministry.

"The Tories are beginning to behave like Donald Trump and are imposing the ideology ahead of the competition, " said Christine Jardine, Interior spokesman for the Liberal-Democratic Party. "The culture of terror is being implemented in all departments among officials."

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