After receiving criticism in a workplace bullying investigation, Dominic Raab announced on Friday that he was resigning as deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom, handing another blow to the Conservative Party.
About two weeks before municipal elections in which the Tories are predicted to lose seats, the resignation causes Prime Minister Rishi Sunak trouble. Sunak had promised a new beginning following the volatile administrations of his predecessors.
Prior to a general election the following year, Sunak is also attempting to regain lost ground to the main opposition Labour party.
Raab had vowed to resign if any allegations against him were proven to be true. Raab had acted as the former prime minister Boris Johnson’s replacement as he took on Covid in 2020.
Raab “acted in a way which was intimidating” at a meeting when serving as the foreign secretary, according to the report’s author Adam Tolley, by threatening a civil servant with “unspecified disciplinary action.”
He was occasionally “abrasive” but not “abusive” in the justice ministry, according to the report’s author.
Despite the fact that he was exonerated of all but two of the eight accusations made against him, he criticised the findings of an investigation conducted by lawyers in November.
He called the six-month probe “Kafkaesque” and a media trial “fueled by warped and fabricated accounts” in a long rebuttal published in the Daily Telegraph.
The two decisions against him were described as “flawed” and “set a dangerous precedent for the conduct of good government” by Raab in his letter of resignation.
He said that because the standard for bullying was so low, it would “encourage false complaints against ministers” and “have a chilling effect on those driving change.”
Raab also left his position as justice secretary, where he had to deal with problems including a backlog in criminal cases created on by years of underfunding and pandemic-related delays.
Prior to being demoted for failing to return on vacation as Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, he held the positions of Brexit minister and foreign secretary.
After Johnson’s turbulent administration, Sunak, who took over for the short-lived Liz Truss in October of last year, claimed to restore “integrity, professionalism, and accountability” to government.
The prime minister praised his performance in office and his promise to leave if any of the accusations were sustained while stating that he accepted his resignation “with great sadness.”
Angela Rayner, the deputy leader of Labour, charged Sunak of weakness for not dismissing Raab before to his resignation.
Nadhim Zahawi’s tax troubles led Sunak to fire him from his position as head of the Conservative Party.
Former defence secretary Gavin Williamson, who was in charge of party discipline in parliament and had a tarantula on his desk, resigned due to profanity-filled letters.
