Priti Patel has had a meeting with Theresa May in Downing Street after being ordered home from an official trip "at the request of the Prime Minister".

The International Development Secretary, who was en route to Uganda on an official trip, is under pressure over a series of undisclosed meetings with Israeli political figures.

:: Timeline: Priti Patel's secret Israel meetings

She reportedly only made it as far as Nairobi, Kenya, before being told to return to the UK, where she arrived at Heathrow airport on Wednesday afternoon before stepping into a ministerial car.

Image: Priti Patel gets in a car at Heathrow after being summoned back from a trip from Africa

Ms Patel apologised earlier this week but details of two further meetings have now emerged.


It has also been reported Ms Patel visited the occupied Golan Heights during a trip to Israel in August, which would represent a breach of British diplomatic protocol.

It has put the Prime Minister under new pressure to sack the Cabinet minister. A Government source told Sky News that Ms Patel's fate is "not looking good".

Sky's Senior Political Correspondent Jason Farrell says her sacking is now "very likely".

Image: Ms Patel landed at Heathrow on Wednesday afternoon

In fresh revelations, it is understood Ms Patel met Israel's public security minister Gilad Erdan in Parliament on 7 September and foreign ministry official Yuval Rotem in New York on 18 September.

Theresa May was reportedly told about the New York meeting on Monday but only learned about the meeting with Mr Erdan on Tuesday.

Downing Street sources denied reports Ms Patel was told not to reveal her meeting with Mr Rotem in a list she published earlier this week.

They also denied the Prime Minister knew about a meeting between Ms Patel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu until last week.

Posting on Twitter at the time of the 7 September meeting in Parliament, Mr Erdan revealed he and Ms Patel discussed how "to advance UK-Israel development cooperation".

Ms Patel was already under scrutiny after she failed to inform either the Foreign Office or Downing Street about 12 meetings she held with top officials during a 13-day "family holiday" to Israel in August.

When conducting official work overseas, ministers are supposed to tell the Foreign Office.

Williamson refuses to say if Patel should resign

Ms Patel's meetings included talks with Mr Netanyahu, a meeting Mrs May had no knowledge of for more than two months.

The Witham MP missed a parliamentary grilling over the exposure of those meetings on Tuesday, when she caught a flight to Uganda for a Government visit.

It was left to her junior minister Alistair Burt to explain how, on returning from her Israel trip, Ms Patel had proposed giving departmental cash to the Israeli army for aid programmes in the Golan Heights, which was ruled "not appropriate".

All Ms Patel's meetings in Israel were arranged by Tory peer Lord Polak, the honorary president of Conservative Friends of Israel, who also sat in on most of the meetings.

Lord Polak is chairman of consultancy TWC Associates, whose clients include an Israeli defence company and technology firms.

Image: Theresa May is under fresh pressure to sack her International Development Secretary

Ms Patel, who has been touted as a future Tory leader, was ordered to Downing Street on Monday when the Prime Minister reminded her of ministerial rules.

The International Development Secretary also issued an apology and a clarification of her previous comments to a newspaper, which had sparked accusations she was trying to cover-up details of her Israel visit.

Ms Patel's sacking or resignation would mark the second departure from Mrs May's Cabinet within the space of a week, after Sir Michael Fallon stood down amid allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards female journalists.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is also under pressure after his comments about a British national imprisoned in Iran led to fears her sentence could be doubled.

Meanwhile, Mrs May's deputy Damian Green is being investigated over allegations of improper conduct towards a female columnist, with officials also looking into claims "extreme pornography" was found on his parliamentary computers.