FLAKING IN THEIR BOOTS
Furious Dominic Raab takes parting shot at snowflake civil servants as he quits over ‘dangerous’ bullying report
A FURIOUS Dominic Raab today blasted snowflake civil servants for leaving his political career in tatters.
The ex-minister spectacularly resigned from Cabinet after a bombshell report upheld two of eight formal bullying complaints against him.
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But in a blistering resignation letter, Mr Raab blasted the inquiry into his behaviour as "dangerous".
And he hit out at woke civil servants who he argued sabotaged his time in office.
Rishi Sunak responded to Mr Raab's letter by conceding he was "right" to resign.
But he admitted there were "shortcomings" in the way the bullying complaints were handled which must be learnt from.
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"Your resignation should not make us forget your record of delivery," the PM said.
This morning Mr Raab hit out at the probe for setting a "low threshold" for bullying, which will lead to other ministers being targeted by disgruntled pen pushers.
"It will encourage spurious claims against ministers," the ex-DPM said.
"And it will have a chilling effect on those driving change on behalf of your government - and ultimately the British people."
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In a mini-reshuffle this afternoon, Mr Raab was replaced as Justice Secretary by Alex Chalk.
Meanwhile, Oliver Dowden was promoted to Deputy PM, in addition to his brief as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
Mr Sunak announced that ex-minister Chloe Smith will provide maternity cover for Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan.
The appointment will take place once Ms Donelan's leave begins.
And also making a government comeback will be Sir John Whittingdale, who is set to take over as a tech minister from Julia Lopez when she goes on maternity leave later this year.
An enraged Mr Raab insisted a "number of improprieties" took place throughout the inquiry, which was led by barrister Adam Tolley KC.
He blamed civil servants for the "systematic leaking of skewed and fabricated claims to the media".
And he suggested there was a "coercive removal" of dedicated staff from his private office in October last year.
The long-awaited Raab Report upheld two formal complaints against the MP for Esher and Walton - one from his time in the Department for Exiting the EU and the other from his stint in the Foreign Office.
Mr Raab slammed the adverse findings as "flawed".
He insisted ministers be able to exercise "direct oversight with respect to senior officials".
And he said they should be allowed to give "direct critical feedback on briefings and submissions to senior officials".
Mr Raab - who says he was quizzed by Mr Tolley for 17 hours - was never found to have sworn or shouted at anyone.
He also never physically intimidated officials.
But Mr Tolley did find the ex-minister behaved in a way that was "experienced as undermining or humiliating by the affected individual".
At the end of his resignation letter Mr Raab pledged to stay loyal to Rishi Sunak.
"I remain supportive of you and this government," he said.
"You have proved to be a great Prime Minister in challenging times, you can count on my support from the backbenches."
What did the Raab Report conclude?
The findings of the long-awaited Dominic Raab bullying probe were finally published this morning - five months after the investigation started.
The fact-finding probe was conducted by senior barrister Adam Tolley KC. He didn't make any judgement as to whether Mr Raab had broken the ministerial code.
In his 48-page report, Mr Tolley upheld two formal complaints submitted by civil servants - one from the Foreign Office and the other from the old Department for Exiting the EU (DEXEU).
The DEXEU complaint related to "interactions between the DPM and civil servants".
Mr Tolley found that at the department, Mr Raab's conduct couldn't have been characterised as "offensive, malicious or insulting".
But it was "experienced as intimidating, in the sense of excessively demanding".
Mr Tolley said: "There was no evidence to suggest any abuse or misuse of power."
The Foreign Office complaint also concerned "interactions between the DPM and civil servants".
At the Foreign Office, Mr Raab was found to have been "intimidating, in the sense of unreasonably and persistently aggressive conduct in the context of a work meeting".
He was also found to have "involved an abuse or misuse of power in a way that undermines or humiliates".
Mr Tolley concluded that the ex-minister should have known his behaviour was wrong, or "at the very least" should've been aware of it.
In a , Mr Raab claimed to be the victim of an unfair trial by media and a snowflake witchhunt.
He raged that "people of this country who will pay the price" for the investigation and its outcome.
The ex-minister said: "Ministers should be held to the same standards as everyone else.
"In reality, the Kafkaesque saga I endured was shorn of the safeguards most people enjoy.
"Normal rules of evidence and procedural fairness were disapplied."
Tory MPs have joined Mr Raab in slamming the probe as weak and unfair.
Paul Bristow said: "What has the world come to."
Joy Morrissey added: "Sadly, we now live in a country where the definition of bullying includes telling someone to do their job. Where the slightest upset or annoyance is indulged with endless reports and inquiries."
Veteran MP Philip Davies told GB News: “I wonder whether or not this could lead to a spate of other complaints going in about other ministers?
"Because I suspect that if the threshold has been set so low there will be other examples out there as well.”
Mr Sunak finally received the long-awaited Raab Report early yesterday morning.
The probe was triggered after staff from multiple Whitehall departments made allegations about his behaviour spanning back years.
Around 24 civil servants were believed to be involved in formal complaints.
In one instance the DPM was accused of creating a "culture of fear".
And civil servants have described being reduced to tears and experiencing mental health crises following interactions with Mr Raab.
He was also alleged to have hurled tomatoes across a table in the Ministry of Justice during a fit of rage.
As Tory MPs were flocking to Liz Truss during the first Tory leadership race, it was Mr Raab who steadfastly stood by Mr Sunak.
He was duly rewarded with his Deputy PM and Justice roles last October.
But when the independent report landed on the PM’s desk yesterday morning, 24 hours later Mr Raab's political career came crashing down.
The investigation - lasting close to 150 days - is another dramatic twist since he went on a five-star holiday to Crete as the Taliban advanced on Kabul, Afghanistan.
Then PM Boris Johnson faced calls to sack him after claims that thousands of emails from people wanting to leave the country had gone unread during the UK’s withdrawal.
He was moved to Justice Secretary in a Cabinet re-shuffle in September 2021. But he was handed the title of Deputy PM after losing his job as one of the ‘great offices of state’.
It would have been a huge climbdown for Raab who even ran for party leader in 2019 but only made the last six before lending his support to Boris Johnson.
He became de facto Prime Minister stepping in for Mr Johnson when he was hospitalised with COVID and took key decisions when BoJo was put under general anesthetic after an operation on his sinuses last June.
Raab went to Oxford University after attending a grammar school in Buckinghamshire. His Jewish father left Nazi-annexed Czechoslovakia aged just six.
The family prospered as he became a food manager for Marks and Spencer but sadly died when Raab was aged 12 from cancer.
Despite Mr Raab, 49, losing his coveted Ministerial role, he now faces the herculean task of holding on to his Parliamentary seat.
But he will have more time to spend with his Brazilian wife Erika Rey, an executive for Microsoft, and their two sons.
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They found time for a family holiday in February when they hit the French Alps but officials said he was still keeping in touch with Whitehall.
He has been an MP for Esher and Walton since 2010 but holds onto a thin majority of just 2,743 with Liberal Democrats campaigners circling ahead of the next election.
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