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If the first loss of a Cabinet Minister was a tragedy for Theresa May, the second confirmed her disintegrating Government is a farce that Britain cannot afford.

No pantomime this season will match the buffoonery of Tories who put personal ambition and survival ahead of the national interest.

Disgraced Priti Patel had to go, like shamed Michael Fallon a week earlier, and any one of a dozen could be next for the exit door.

Patel is proof of how arrogance, naivety, foolishness and ambition are a toxic mix. Her freelance foreign policy in Israel and subsequent lies demanded she got the sack.

(Image: Getty)

May’s hesitation underlined her observer status in No10. By letting Patel resign instead of being fired, the PM chipped away another bit of what was left of her authority.

Move over, May. We need strong leadership, which the Tories are incapable of providing.