Dominic Raab's fate in Rishi Sunak's hands after long-awaited bullying claims report concludes
A senior lawyer has been investigating allegations made by civil servants that Dominic Raab bullied them while at the Ministry of Justice and the Foreign Office - claims the deputy PM strongly denies.
Friday 21 April 2023 10:04, UK
Dominic Raab's fate is in the hands of Rishi Sunak after a long-awaited investigation into bullying claims by his deputy concluded.
A report on the findings, which is understood to be "very lengthy", was handed to Number 10 on Thursday morning, with the prime minister said to be "carefully considering" its conclusions.
Transport secretary Mark Harper told Sky News the prime minister had yet to make a decision on his deputy's future, but said he would "want to reach a conclusion as quickly as he can" after "taking the time to get it right".
Senior lawyer Adam Tolley KC has been looking into multiple allegations of bullying by Mr Raab, justice secretary and loyal ally of the PM since November last year.
Under ministerial rules, Mr Sunak, as prime minister, has to decide whether the conclusions of the report mean Mr Raab did bully staff and if he did then what the consequences will be.
But on Thursday afternoon, Sky News was told "no further action" would take place that day regarding Mr Raab's future.
Mr Raab told Sky News in February he would resign if the inquiry found he had bullied staff.
His future now hangs in the balance, with the report not made public yet and Downing Street insisting a resolution will be sought "as swiftly as possible".
Throughout the investigation, Mr Raab has insisted he "behaved professionally at all times" and pointed out he initiated the inquiry into himself when the accusations were made.
Allies of Mr Raab said "he'll fight to the death", the Daily Telegraph reported.
Sky News also understands Mr Raab and Mr Sunak did not speak on Thursday - and Mr Raab has seen the report and maintains he has behaved professionally at all times.
'PM will want to make the right decision'
Mr Harper - who revealed he had not spoken to the PM about the findings - said: "[Mr Sunak] is taking his time to consider the report - he did only receive the report yesterday and of course it is a report produced after a five-month inquiry, so I am assuming that it will be an extensive report.
"The prime minister is a man who will want to take the time to read the report in full, go through the detail before he reaches a conclusion."
The transport secretary added: "This is an important matter. It is important both for the complainants that have made complaints about Dominic Raab and also for Mr Raab. The prime minister will want to make the right decision and be fair to both groups of people.
"He'll want to reach a conclusion as quickly as he can, this is an important matter, but he will want to take the time to get it right.
"There is a balance to strike here of taking the time to get it right… but he will want to reach a swift conclusion after taking the time to go through the report."
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What are the allegations against Dominic Raab?
The investigation was looking into whether Mr Raab had bullied civil servants during his time as both foreign secretary from 2019 to 2021, and then justice secretary from 2021 to 2022 under Boris Johnson's premiership.
Assistant general secretary of the FDA civil service union, Amy Leversidge, told Sky News that those who had put in the complaints had "an agonising day" waiting for the report's conclusions on Thursday.
"It was an agonising wait for everyone after five months of going through a complaints process, which can be gruelling in itself, and for some of those people, they've waited years to be able to put in their complaint and now they have had a sleepless night and we still don't know what's going to come."
Labour and the Lib Dems accused Mr Sunak of "dither and delay" over what they perceive as his inaction.
Speaking to Sky News, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: "Rishi Sunak has got no one to blame but himself. These allegations were hanging in the air when Dominic Raab was appointed deputy prime minister.
"The day that Rishi Sunak has spent deliberating on the future of one person is a day he should have spent deliberating how to tackle the biggest crisis in the history of the NHS, or how to deliver justice on our streets, or how to tackle the cost of living crisis, which is soaring in terms of food prices and the pain in people's pockets."
Mr Streeting said the process "has got to be fair to the individual and to the people who have put in complaints".
But, he added: "My anxiety is what Rishi Sunak is deliberating on isn't the substance of the report but the politics of this - whether or not he is going to stand by what he said outside Downing Street about restoring trust and standards in public life, or whether or not he is going to be strong enough to stand up to people in his own party who will be inevitably upset if he sacks Dominic Raab.
"Ultimately, the prime minister has got to make a decision. He cant keep on dithering and delaying or passing the buck to someone else.
"It is on him. It is his judgement on who he appoints to high office and who he dismisses, and I'm afraid he has got a really poor track record of putting people who are not good enough in some of the highest offices in the land."
What punishment could Mr Raab receive?
Changes to the ministerial code mean Mr Sunak can impose sanctions on his deputy that do not involve him being sacked, if he is found to have bullied staff.
This could include Mr Raab having to make a public apology, "remedial action" such as attending an anger management course or the removal of his ministerial salary for a period of time.
Mr Tolley is understood to have spoken to dozens of witnesses, including top civil servants and Mr Johnson, following claims Mr Raab created a "culture of fear" at the Ministry of Justice, and allegations that he was "very rude and aggressive".
Colleagues were allegedly "scared" to go into his office when he was foreign secretary, former permanent secretary Lord McDonald has said.
However, a Tory MP who formerly worked as a parliamentary private secretary to Mr Raab said his ex-boss was always "courteous and professional" with his staff.
Speaking after the report was handed to Downing Street, Gareth Johnson told Sky News he can "only go by what I witnessed", but added: "Not once did I ever witness him behaving in a manner that could be described as bullying."