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Priti Patel walked away with a pay-out of nearly £17,000 after being forced to resign as International Development Secretary , the Standard reveals today.

She received the sizeable “termination” payment despite admitting she blundered by holding unauthorised meetings in Israel last summer, including with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Brexiteer Ms Patel was humiliatingly summoned back to London from East Africa in November to be axed from the Cabinet by Theresa May. At the time ministers are dismissed or resign, the Cabinet Office refuses to disclose if they are given pay-offs, despite them being funded by the taxpayer.

It still will not say if Boris Johnson received a payment when he quit as Foreign Secretary last month over Mrs May’s Chequers Brexit blueprint, or if David Davis did when he stood down as Brexit Secretary.

But details of the payment to Ms Patel are in the Department for International Development’s recently published annual accounts for 2017-18.

It states under the subject line “Compensation for loss of office (audited)”: “The Rt Hon Priti Patel left under severance terms on 8 November 2017 and received a severance payment of £16,876.” Witham MP Ms Patel was forced to apologise in November for the private meetings with senior Israeli government figures held during an August holiday. The Prime Minister fired her after fresh revelations about them.

The Foreign Office was aware of her Israel visit while it was under way, but was not informed about it in advance.

In her resignation letter to the PM, Ms Patel said: “As you know from our discussions I accept that in meeting with organisations and politicians during a private holiday in Israel my actions fell below the high standards that are expected of a Secretary of State.

“While my actions were meant with the best of intentions, [they] also fell below the standards of transparency and openness that I have promoted. I offer a fulsome apology to you and the Government and offer my resignation.”

Ms Patel’s decision to accept the payment, despite admitting her mistakes, sparked immediate criticism. Senior Labour MP Mary Creagh said: “I can’t think of any other walk of life where somebody would receive such a handsome pay-off after such behaviour.”

The Cabinet Office’s latest annual accounts show Damian Green also received a £16,876 severance payment after he was asked to resign as First Secretary of State last December. He was dismissed after it was found he breached the ministerial code over “inaccurate and misleading” statements regarding what he knew about claims pornography was found on his office computer.

He rejected suggestions that he had either downloaded or viewed pornography on a computer removed from his Commons office in 2008 and said the Met had “never suggested to me that improper material was found”. However, he later accepted his lawyers had been told about Scotland Yard’s initial discovery and the police had raised the issue with him in a 2013 phone call.

Sir Michael Fallon also quit as Defence Secretary last November, aged 65, saying his behaviour may have “fallen short” of the standards expected by the UK armed forces; he had faced claims of inappropriate conduct towards women. He did not get a pay-out, according to Ministry of Defence accounts. Once ministers reach 65, and are sacked or resign, they are no longer entitled to a quarter of their salary (three months) as severance pay.

Ministers aged 64 or younger are eligible provided they are not appointed to a new Government position within three weeks, according to the Ministerial and other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991.

Putney MP Justine Greening quit the Government in January after Mrs May sought to move her from the Education Secretary post. She did not receive a severance payment, according to the Education Department’s accounts.

A Cabinet Office spokeswoman said: “Ministers — including those who resign — have a right to severance pay that is set out in legislation which has operated under many administrations.”