British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has resigned. Raab resigned from the government on Friday after being accused of bullying his colleagues.
Raab was said to have resigned in a letter to the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak before the report was made public.
The Deputy Prime Minister’s resignation could affect the electoral fortune of the Conservative Party.
The local council elections are coming in two weeks, Conservatives are predicted to fare badly.
This is the third time Sunak will be losing a senior minister over their personal conduct in the past six months.
“I called for the inquiry and undertook to resign if it made any finding of bullying whatsoever”, Raab’s letter said, adding: “I believe it is important to keep my word”.
In a letter in reply, Sunak said that he accepted Raab’s resignation with deep sadness but said it was important that ministers uphold the highest of standards.
As deputy prime minister, Raab had no formal powers but stepped in for the prime minister if he was away from parliament or incapacitated.
The five-month investigation into Raab’s behaviour heard evidence from multiple government officials about complaints of bullying at three different departments.
The independent report by lawyer Adam Tolley found that Raab had acted in a way that was “intimidating” and “persistently aggressive” while at the Foreign Office.
It said while at the Justice Ministry, he had gone “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”.
“(Raab) has been able to regulate this level of ‘abrasiveness’ since the announcement of the investigation”, Tolley wrote.
“He should have altered his approach earlier”, the lawyer added.
Raab requested the investigation in November following formal complaints about his behaviour by government officials.
He said he felt “duty-bound” to accept the outcome of the inquiry but also staunchly defended his conduct.
He said the report had concluded he had not once sworn, shouted, or physically intimidated anyone in four and a half years, and had dismissed all but two of the claims against him.
Raab apologised for any unintended stress or offence caused but said the decision to set a threshold for bullying so low “set a dangerous precedent” for the conduct of good government.
This will “have a chilling effect on those driving change on behalf of your government – and ultimately the British people”, he said in his letter.
Raab referred to the two incidents where there was a finding of bullying against him – one at the Foreign Office in dealing with a senior diplomat’s handling of the Brexit negotiation over Gibraltar, and one where he gave critical feedback during an earlier stint at the Ministry of Justice from 2021 to 2022.
Keir Starmer, the leader of the main opposition Labour Party, accused Sunak of “weakness” for failing to sack his deputy rather than letting him resign.
Another of Sunak’s senior ministers, Gavin Williamson, also quit in November after bullying allegations, and the prime minister sacked Conservative Party chair Nadhim Zahawi in January after he was found to have broken the ministerial code over his openness about his tax affairs.
Sunak is facing his own investigation by parliament’s standards watchdog into his behaviour over whether he properly declared his wife’s shareholding in a childcare company that stands to benefit from the new government policy.
