 She criticised Black Lives Matter demonstrators in Bristol for toppling the statue of Edward Colston, calling it "utterly disgraceful".Patel is considered to be on the right-wing of the Conservative Party, with the "Total Politics" website noting that some saw her as a "modern-day Norman Tebbit".In "The Guardian", the economics commentator Aditya Chakrabortty characterised her as "an out-and-out right-winger" who has no desire to "claim the centre ground" in politics.