By Ben Kerrigan-
Dominic Raab has resigned as the UK’s deputy prime minister, and as justice secretary, after months of allegations about bullying behaviour in the Ministry of Justice and other Whitehall departments.
The senior Conservative MP criticised some of the findings as flawed, but did not state which one’s in particular he was referring to.
He had faced multiple bullying complaints by staff, including claims he drove some staff to tears or caused them to vomit before meetings.
In a resignation letter to Rishi Sunak, the deputy prime minister said the inquiry had set a “dangerous precedent” and would encourage “spurious complaints”.
In the letter, published on his Twitter account, he expressed regret and said that whilst he felt duty bound to accept the outcome of the inquiry, adding that two of the adverse findings were flawed and apologised for ”any unintended stress or offence that any officials felt, as a result of the pace, standards and challenge that I brought to the Ministry of Justice. That is, however, what the public expect of ministers working on their behalf.”
His resignation letter concluded: “In setting the threshold for bullying so low, this inquiry has set a dangerous precedent.
“It will encourage spurious complaints against ministers and have a chilling effect on those driving change on behalf of your government — and ultimately the British people.
Raab said he had raised with Sunak “a number of improprieties” about the review into his conduct, including “the systemic leaking of skewed and fabricated claims to the media” in breach of the inquiry rules and civil service code.
He defended ministers being able to “give direct critical feedback on briefings and submissions … in order to set the standards and drive the reform the public expect of us”.
However, he stressed he was “genuinely sorry for any unintended stress or offence that any officials felt, as a result of the pace, standards and challenge that I brought to the Ministry of Justice”.
Allegations
Allegations first surfaced about Mr Raab back in November, with former staff claiming he created a “culture of fear” in their departments.
He denied the allegations and requested an investigation into himself after two formal complaints were made.
A subsequent report suggested that as many as 24 complaints had been made.
One complaint made by Gina Miller was that she was personally bullied on one occasion when she had appeared on the Today programme about her challenge about the government’s plans in The Supreme Court. Ms Miller had previously reported witnessing Mr. Raab bully a BBC staff, swearing in the process.
In a newspaper article, Mr Raab gave more detail about the complaints made against him, saying the report concluded “I had abused my power by replacing a lead negotiator when I was foreign secretary, and as justice secretary had left senior officials feeling insulted on three occasions because of direct feedback”.
However, he doubled-down on his attack on the process, saying “normal rules of evidence and procedural fairness were disapplied”, including a rule for all complaints to be made within three months.
“In my case, all the complaints were stored up for over three months, most over eight months, some for over four years – and then submitted in a coordinated way,” he claimed.
“And I was subject to trial by media for six months, fuelled by warped and fabricated accounts leaked by anonymous officials.”
It is the second bullying complaint under Sunak’s government.
In early November, Gavin Williamson resigned as a Cabinet Office minister after allegations that he told a senior civil servant to “slit your throat” while he was defence secretary, and the emergence of abusive messages to a Tory colleague.