Raab resigns following bullying investigation

Deputy Prime Minister, Dominic Raab has resigned from government following an investigation into reports of bullying.

Yesterday, prime minister Rishi Sunak received a report into the allegations.

There had been several complaints from civil servants about Raab's behaviour, which were investigated by senior lawyer Adam Tolley KC. Reports suggested that he could be "pretty belittling" and he made staff cry.

Raab had previously denied the allegations.

Raab posted his letter of resignation on Twitter. He said: "Whilst I feel duty bound to accept the outcome of the inquiry, it dismissed all but two of the claims levelled against me. I also believe that its two adverse findings are flawed and set a dangerous precedent for the conduct of good government.

He continued: "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."

Following Raab's resignation, the report into bullying allegations was published.

The report investigates complaints during Raab's time at the ministry of justice, where he worked 15 September 2021 – 6 September 2022 and then 25 October 2022 until now. The report found that on a number of occasions, while meeting with policy officials, he "acted in a manner which was intimidating, in the sense of going further than was necessary or appropriate in delivering critical feedback, and also insulting, in the sense of making unconstructive critical comments about the quality of work done (whether or not as a matter of substance any criticism was justified)."

Raab also served as foreign secretary from 2019 to 2021. During this time, the report found that while implementing a certain decision in the role "he acted in a way which was intimidating, in the sense of unreasonably and persistently aggressive conduct in the context of a work meeting.

"His conduct also involved an abuse or misuse of power in a way that undermines or humiliates. He introduced an unwarranted punitive element."

The report also states that he described some work as "utterly useless" and "woeful".

Sunak has accepted Raab's resignation "with great sadness", also stating that it's "clear there have been shortcomings in the historic process". These issues have "negatively affected everyone involved", and "we should learn from this how to better handle such matters in future".

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