{"id":633146,"date":"2023-04-21T07:52:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T12:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/21\/deputy-prime-minister-dominic-raab-resigns-over-bullying-claims\/"},"modified":"2023-04-21T07:52:00","modified_gmt":"2023-04-21T12:52:00","slug":"deputy-prime-minister-dominic-raab-resigns-over-bullying-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/21\/deputy-prime-minister-dominic-raab-resigns-over-bullying-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab Resigns Over Bullying Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Dominic Raab has resigned from his roles as the UK\u2019s deputy prime minister and justice secretary over claims of bullying.<\/p>\n

Raab said in a statement<\/a> on Friday that he felt \u201cduty bound\u201d to resign after an inquiry found he had acted in an \u201cintimidating\u201d manner, but he also claimed the findings \u201care flawed and set a dangerous precedent for the conduct of good government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak accepted Raab\u2019s resignation, saying it\u2019s \u201cclear that there have been shortcomings in the historic process that have negatively affected everyone involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should learn from this how to better handle such matters in future,\u201d he wrote in a letter to Raab<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The prime minister said he was \u201cgrateful\u201d for Raab\u2019s \u201csteadfast personal support\u201d of his leadership campaign last year, and paid tribute to his \u201cdedication, commitment, and loyalty\u201d as deputy prime minister.<\/p>\n

Raab requested an independent investigation in November last year after formal complaints were made alleging he had bullied civil servants.<\/p>\n

The complaints followed media reports that claimed the minister had been\u00a0\u201cvery rude and aggressive\u201d towards civil servants<\/a> and that he had\u00a0created a \u201cculture of fear\u201d at the Ministry of Justice (MOJ).<\/p>\n

When he called for the inquiry, Raab denied any wrongdoing and vowed to\u00a0\u201ccooperate fully\u201d with the investigation and respect \u201cwhatever outcome\u201d Sunak would decide on.<\/p>\n

\n

Downing Street on Thursday confirmed Sunak had received the report into the allegations (pdf<\/a>) from senior lawyer Adam Tolley KC, and that Sunak was considering the findings.<\/p>\n

The prime minister\u2019s spokesperson also said Sunak still had \u201cfull confidence\u201d in Raab.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018Intimidating Behaviour\u2019<\/h2>\n

The report, which was published on Friday, said Raab \u201cacted in a way\u00a0which was intimidating, in the sense of unreasonably and persistently\u00a0aggressive conduct in the context of a work meeting\u201d when he made a \u201clegitimate management choice\u201d as the foreign secretary.<\/p>\n

The report said Raab also mentioned \u201cthe\u00a0Civil Service Code in a way which could reasonably have been understood as suggesting that those involved had acted in breach of the Civil Service Code,\u201d which \u201cwas a form of intimidating behaviour, in the sense of conveying a threat of\u00a0unspecified disciplinary action.\u201d<\/p>\n

It also said Raab didn\u2019t target anyone or intend to threaten anyone, but should have realised that his mentioning the Civil Service Code \u201ccould well have been understood as a threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding group complaints in relation to the MOJ, the report said the former justice secretary had \u201cacted in a manner which was intimidating\u201d by making unconstructive critical comments on a number of occasions.<\/p>\n

The examples cited showed that Raab complained about the lack of \u201cbasic information\u201d in documents and \u201cobstructiveness\u201d on the part of\u00a0officials whom he perceived to be resistant to his policies, and referred to some items of work as \u201cutterly useless\u201d and \u201cwoeful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report said Raab didn\u2019t intend to target anyone or to upset or humiliate, but the unconstructive criticisms, combined with a habit of interrupting people, \u201cis likely to be experienced as intimidating, in the sense of being unreasonably difficult to deal with, and plainly was so\u00a0experienced by some individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report said Raab\u2019s style of working was \u201cinquisitorial, direct, impatient, and fastidious,\u201d but said there was \u201cno persuasive evidence\u201d that he had shouted or sworn at anyone.<\/p>\n

Raab: \u2018Dangerous Precedent\u2019<\/h2>\n

In his letter of resignation<\/a> to Sunak, Raab said he had promised to resign if the report \u201cmade any finding of bullying whatsoever,\u201d adding, \u201cI believe it is important to keep my word.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Paying tribute to \u201cthe many outstanding civil servants\u201d he had worked with, Raab\u00a0claimed the threshold of bullying was set too low.<\/p>\n

\"Epoch
<\/figcaption><\/a> Britain\u2019s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak addresses participants at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, southern Germany, on Feb. 18, 2023. (Ben Stansall\/WPA-Pool\/Getty Images)<\/figure>\n

\u201cFirst, ministers must be able to exercise direct oversight with respect to senior officials over critical negotiations conducted on behalf of the British people, otherwise the democratic and constitutional principle of ministerial responsibility will be lost. This was particularly true during my time as foreign secretary, in the context of the Brexit negotiations over Gibraltar, when a senior diplomat breached the mandate agreed by Cabinet,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

In an article published in The Telegraph<\/a>, Raab said he had \u201cmade changes to the personnel\u201d of the negotiation team after finding out the diplomat\u2019s alleged wrongdoing, and that the change \u201cinvolved no demotion or longer-term detriment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSecond, ministers must be able to give direct critical feedback on briefings and submissions to senior officials, in order to set the standards and drive the reform the public expect of us,\u201d Raab wrote in the resignation letter.<\/p>\n

The former minister said he\u2019s \u201cgenuinely sorry for any unintended stress or offence\u201d any officials felt \u201cas a result of the pace, standards, and challenge\u201d he brought to the MOJ, but\u00a0argued that the inquiry has \u201cset a dangerous precedent\u201d by \u201csetting the threshold for bullying so low,\u201d saying it will \u201cencourage spurious complaints against ministers, and have a chilling effect on those driving change.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also called on Sunak to order an independent review of \u201ca number of improprieties that came to light during the course of this inquiry,\u201d including the \u201csystematic leaking of skewed and fabricated claims to the media in breach of the rules of the inquiry and the Civil Service Code of Conduct, and the coercive removal by a senior official of dedicated private secretaries\u201d from his MOJ private office in October of last year.<\/p>\n

Raab wrote in The Telegraph that an official removed the private secretaries upon Raab\u2019s return to the\u00a0MOJ, saying they\u00a0were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Raab also claimed that the official asserted that private secretaries who didn\u2019t want to leave were suffering from\u00a0Stockholm syndrome.<\/p>\n

Raab stated that the claims had been \u201cstored up for over three months, most over eight months, some for over four years\u2014and then submitted in a coordinated way,\u201d and labelled the inquiry a \u201cKafkaesque saga.\u201d<\/p>\n

Labour: Allowing Raab to Resign Shows \u2018Weakness\u2019<\/h2>\n

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner has accused Sunak of dithering and delaying after Downing Street confirmed the report had been received.<\/p>\n

\"Epoch
<\/figcaption><\/a> Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer speaking in east London, on Feb. 15, 2023. (Stefan Rousseau\/PA Media)<\/figure>\n

Speaking to broadcasters on Friday, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said no one want to hear Raab\u2019s \u201cwhining about having to resign,\u201d and that the prime minister\u00a0showed \u201cweakness\u201d by not sacking Raab.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy didn\u2019t he sack him? And now it\u2019s left for Dominic Raab to resign because the prime minister hasn\u2019t acted,\u201d the opposition leader said.<\/p>\n

Starmer said Sunak\u2019s \u201cindecision and weakness\u201d in allowing Dominic Raab to resign \u201cgoes to the heart\u201d of the \u201cfailure\u201d of successive Tory governments.<\/p>\n

PA Media contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Lily Zhou<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dominic Raab has resigned from his roles as the UK\u2019s deputy prime minister and justice secretary over claims of bullying. Raab said in a statement on Friday that he felt \u201cduty bound\u201d to resign after an inquiry found he had acted in an \u201cintimidating\u201d manner, but he also claimed the findings \u201care flawed and set […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":633147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26568,534,4746],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-633146","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-deputy","8":"category-financial","9":"category-prime"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}