Tory rightwinger Priti Patel promoted to Treasury

Conservative MP Priti Patel, a rightwinger and former PR executive who has endorsed the death penalty, has been promoted to the Treasury as exchequer secretary dealing with tax policy.

Patel, 42, whose parents were driven out of Uganda by Idi Amin, was thought to be the Conservatives' first Asian female MP when she won her seat in Witham, Essex, in 2010.