UK deputy prime minister quits after bullying investigation
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London: UK Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has resigned after an independent investigation found he bullied civil servants.
Raab’s announcement came the day after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak received findings into eight formal complaints that Raab, who is also justice secretary, had been abusive toward staff members during a previous stint in that office and while serving as Britain’s foreign secretary and Brexit secretary.
Raab, 49, had denied claims he belittled and demeaned his staff.Credit: Bloomberg
Raab, 49, denied claims he belittled and demeaned his staff and said he “behaved professionally at all times,” but had said he would resign if the bullying complaints were upheld.
The investigation made two findings of bullying against him and dismissed the others, Raab said in his resignation letter. But he called the findings “flawed” and said the inquiry “set a dangerous precedent” by “setting the threshold for bullying so low.”
He said he quit because he was “duty bound” to resign since he had promised to.
The resignation spares Sunak from having to determine the fate of his deputy.
Sunak received the investigation report on Thursday morning (UK time) and was considering the findings, but he hadn’t made a decision on Raab’s future, spokesperson Max Blain said.
The case presented a conundrum for Sunak: fire Raab and open himself to criticism for hiring him in the first place, or keep him in the job and be criticised for failing to follow through on his promise to restore integrity to the Conservative government.
The report is the latest ethics headache for Sunak, who vowed to restore order and integrity to government after three years of instability under predecessors Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. Multiple scandals brought Johnson down in 2022, and Truss quit in October of that year after just six weeks when her tax-cutting economic plans sparked mayhem on the financial markets.
Sunak has struggled to shake off opposition allegations that the Conservative government remains mired in scandal and sleaze.
Raab was elected to parliament in 2010 and unsuccessfully sought to become Conservative Party leader in 2019 before throwing his support behind Johnson. He was appointed deputy prime minister under Johnson and later reinstated when Sunak came to power.
AP
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