Priti Patel was pictured wearing an anti-bullying ribbon during PMQs on Wednesday and Twitter quickly lit up due to her past with the cause.
The home secretary was far from the only person showing her support for the cause on the Common benches.
Her fellow cabinet members had also attached the ribbon to their outfits today, including the prime minister. Many opposition MPs had also followed suit.
However, Patel’s decision to attach the ribbon was derided by critics because she has previously been accused of bullying.
In fact, Boris Johnson’s first ethics adviser Alex Allan quit after he found Patel guilty of bullying staff across different government departments, meaning she breached the ministerial code.
Allan concluded at the time that she had bullied civil servants, even shouting and swearing at them.
He then advised the prime minister to advice Patel to resign but Johnson refused, claiming her behaviour was unintentional and therefore not a breach of the ministerial code. Allan resigned in protest.
The FDA Union, which represents the UK’s most senior civil servants, brought a judicial review over the prime minister over this ruling, but eventually lost this challenge.
Honouring the Diana Award’s anti-bullying campaign day, which fell on this Wednesday, Johnson told the House: “Bullying is an absolutely appalling experience and something that we should not tolerate in our society.
“I’m delighted to see so many colleagues, so many honourable members, wearing their blue ribbons today, Mr Speaker. We should all speak out against bullying and make sure everyone has courage to speak out against bullying.”
Even though this happened in 2020, it seems people haven’t forgotten – and were quick to spot that the prime minister had Patel at his side during his speech.