On Saturday, Sir Philip Rutnam announced that he resigned as the Home Office’s permanent secretary, the department’s top civil servant tasked with running it on a day-to-day basis. He told the BBC he will sue the government for constructive dismissal, alleging that he was effectively forced out of office.

Rutnam said that he was hit with “completely false” allegations of briefing the media against his boss, Home Secretary Priti Patel. The ex-official noted that Patel denied her involvement in these attacks but said that he does not believe her.

Tighe eventually retired earlier this month, while a Home Office spokesperson brushed off reports of Patel mistreating employees as false. Minister of State for Security James Brokenshire, who answers to Patel, told Sky News that his boss was a “demanding” boss but called the accusation of bullying “absolute nonsense.”