Priti Patel will take on the responsibilities of the vacant security minister’s brief permanently, The Times has learnt.
The home secretary has been covering the role since James Brokenshire stepped back from the job to focus on his recovery from cancer.
It had been expected that Boris Johnson would appoint a replacement this autumn because the role of security minister is normally a dedicated senior ministerial job in the Home Office. The vacancy was especially apparent on Wednesday after the arrest of a worker at the British embassy in Berlin on suspicion of spying for Russia.
However, sources have told The Times that the prime minister has agreed to Patel’s wishes to cover the brief permanently. She is said to enjoy the intelligence side of
