Dominic Raab lashes out at ‘flawed’ bullying inquiry as he quits

Dominic Raab has angrily dismissed the findings of a bullying inquiry that has prompted him to resign as justice secretary and deputy prime minister.

The five-month probe, by a senior lawyer, was set up by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak after complaints about Mr Raab’s behaviour as a minister.

In a letter to Mr Sunak, Mr Raab said he would resign if the inquiry “made any finding of bullying whatsoever”.

He said the inquiry “dismissed all but two of the claims levelled against me”.

Mr Raab said two findings that went against him were “flawed” and “set a dangerous precedent for the conduct of good government”.

The report on the inquiry by senior lawyer Adam Tolley KC is yet to be published by the government.

Mr Raab’s political fate had been hanging in the balance for more than 24 hours after the prime minister received the report from Mr Tolley on Thursday morning.

The resignation of Mr Raab – one of Mr Sunak’s key supporters during the Conservative leadership contest last year – means the prime minister will need to appoint a new justice secretary.

Mr Tolley was investigating eight formal complaints of bullying against Mr Raab, who was appointed deputy prime minister and justice secretary last October.

The bullying complaints, which involved 24 people, relate to Mr Raab’s previous periods as justice secretary and foreign secretary under Boris Johnson, and his time as Brexit secretary under Theresa May.

Mr Sunak has been under pressure to explain what he knew about the allegations before reappointing Mr Raab as to the cabinet.

Mr Raab’s resignation is the third departure of a cabinet minister since Mr Sunak became prime minister.

A Downing Street source said Mr Sunak did not urge Mr Raab to resign.

Labour has accused Mr Sunak of being weak for failing to sack Mr Raab.

“We’ve had 13 years of Tory PMs trying to dodge the rules and defend their mates,” a Labour source said. “Enough is enough.”

The Liberal Democrats said Mr Raab’s resignation should trigger a by-election for his Esher and Walton seat, in Surrey, calling him “unfit to represent his constituents in Parliament”.

Mr Raab pulled no punches in his resignation letter. He made that clear that, while he accepted the outcome of the inquiry, he did not agree with the findings against him.

He said 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”.

While he apologised for any “unintended” stress caused, he attributed this to the “pace, standards and challenge” he brought to the Ministry of Justice.

“In setting the threshold for bullying so low, this inquiry has set a dangerous precedent,” Mr Raab wrote.

“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.”

His main argument appears to be that ministers need to be able to give direct critical feedback, and exercise direct oversight, over their civil servant officials.

One question now is whether he decides to take any further action.

He has punchily accused some civil servants of “systematic leaking of skewed and fabricated claims” and claimed a senior official initiated a “coercive removal” of some of his private secretaries last year.

Someone who advised Mr Raab in a senior role in one department told the BBC his resignation letter contained “one of the best examples of a ‘non-apology’ from a minister in recent years”.

The person said Mr Raab’s version of being the deputy prime minister “is one that should be learnt from and ultimately consigned to the history books”.

A senior Tory MP and former Cabinet minister said: “Has Dominic Raab been hard done by? Certainly. Is he the victim of a civil service union ambush? Probably.”

The FDA, a union that represents civil servants, has called for an independent inquiry in to ministerial bullying following the Raab investigation.

FDA General Secretary Dave Penman said Mr Raab’s resignation was a “damning indictment” of the process for enforcing ministerial standards within government.