Ministers could struggle to take action against lazy or incompetent officials for fear of being labeled bullies following Dominic Raab’s resignation, Tory MPs warned today.
Former minister Sir Robert Goodwill said it would be difficult to be “robust” with under-performing staff in light of the case against the former deputy prime minister.
An independent inquiry found that while Mr Raab did not shout, abuse or physically threaten his staff, they were upset by his abrupt behaviour, which included interrupting meetings and questioning the quality of their work.
Sir Robert, a minister under Theresa May and David Cameron, told Times Radio: “If you have a man who works for you in the civil service, who is not getting his money’s worth, not doing his job – he may even be incompetent – how do you communicate that without being described as a bully?
“And I think that’s something we need to look at. We’ve all had people in the workplace who don’t get their act together you know they’re late for work all the time I think in that situation it’s going to be pretty hard to be robust with somebody and tell them the facts, without being accused of just bullying them.
“You know you say to someone: you’re not doing your job, you have to take off your socks, otherwise you’re out of here, is that bullying?”
Meanwhile, former culture secretary Nadine Dorries suggested today that Mr Raab, a former lawyer, could leave politics altogether.
She told TalkTV, “Whether he will fight it or not is really another matter, but if I were him I wouldn’t even bother.
“I would just walk away and, you know, he’s an intelligent and highly qualified, very experienced person.
Mr Raab wrote to Rishi Sunak this morning to reveal that he was stepping down as Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister
Former minister Sir Robert Goodwill said it would be difficult to be “robust” with under-performing staff in light of the case against the former deputy prime minister.
Meanwhile, former culture secretary Nadine Dorries suggested today that Mr Raab, a former lawyer, could leave politics altogether.
“There’s a whole world outside of politics, you know, we don’t have to stay here and put up with the kind of abuse that MPs and ministers do. There’s a whole world waiting for someone as qualified as Dominic Raab and I think probably, but that’s the decision he and his wife and his family made – it’s time to go.’
Mr Raab wrote to Mr Sunak this morning to reveal that he was stepping down as deputy prime minister and justice minister.
He acknowledged that a months-long investigation by Adam Tolley KC had upheld two of the complaints filed against him.
But Mr Raab denounced Mr Tolley’s report for ‘setting the threshold for bullying so low’, claiming it had set a ‘dangerous precedent’.
He suggested it would encourage “false complaints” against ministers and have a “chilling effect” throughout Whitehall.
Mr Raab suggested officials working under him at the Justice Department could not keep up with the ‘pace, standards and challenge’ he demanded.
In response to Mr Raab’s resignation, Sir Keir claimed it showed Mr Sunak’s ‘continued weakness’.
“He should never have appointed him in the first place, along with other cabinet members who should not have been appointed, and then he did not sack him,” the Labor leader said.
“Even today it is Raab who has resigned rather than the Prime Minister acting.”
Sir Keir also took a swipe at the contents of Mr Raab’s letter of resignation, adding: ‘I don’t know why Dominic Raab, in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, thinks someone wants to hear about his whining about having of resigning.
“What I think everyone wants is strong leadership and that is clearly absent here.”
But there were signs that Tory MPs were concerned about Mr Tolley’s conclusions about Mr Raab’s behaviour.
A former cabinet minister told MailOnline they were waiting for Mr Tolley’s full report before taking a position, but said Mr Raab’s letter indicated the KC’s findings are ‘maybe tenuous’.
Another Tory MP said an allegation by Mr Raab that a ‘senior diplomat has breached the mandate agreed by the cabinet’ during the Brexit negotiations over Gibraltar was ‘disturbing’.
Conservative backbencher Philip Davies suggested the findings against Mr Raab ‘could lead to a flurry of other complaints about other ministers’.
He told GB News: “I just wonder how much this will be seen as a turning point in terms of how ministers can actually govern, how ministers treat officials and whether Dominic Raab is right in saying that the threshold for bullying is so low put.
“I wonder if this could lead to a wave of other complaints about other ministers.
‘Because I suspect that if the threshold is that low, there will be other examples as well.’
Esther McVey, a former Secretary for Work and Pensions, suggested that attention could now turn to ex-cabinet minister Sir Alok Sharma, who has also faced recent allegations of bullying.
She said: ‘Last week there were reports of Alok Sharma calling staff we hadn’t warned before, unannounced, calling staff who were working from home.
“They said they considered this a form of bullying, so Alok Sharma is already in the spotlight, another cabinet minister.”
Sir Alok, who chaired the Cop-26 climate summit, has denied allegations that he ‘bullied’ officials.
He said: ‘I was never made aware of any ‘informal complaints’ or otherwise from the staff.
“The Cabinet Office has confirmed that there are no records of any informal or formal complaints about me to the government.
“I strongly refute these allegations.”
Sir Keir Starmer accused Dominic Raab of ‘whining’ over bullying inquiry that forced him to step down as deputy prime minister
