BullyingDominic Raab, the former Deputy Prime Minister, has been accused of disregarding warnings about his behaviour by a retired senior civil servant who worked with him in the Foreign Office. Lord McDonald, who served as Mr Raab’s permanent secretary, described him as a “tough taskmaster” whose methods did not help him achieve his aims. He said he raised this with Mr Raab more than once, but he “disputed” it and was unwilling to listen.
Mr Raab resigned on Friday following an inquiry into allegations of bullying. The inquiry found he was “intimidating” and “aggressive” towards officials, but Mr Raab said his behaviour was not bullying and that almost all of the complaints against him were dismissed. In his resignation letter to the Prime Minister, he accepted the inquiry’s findings but said they were “flawed”.
In his first interview since stepping down, Mr Raab told the BBC the findings set “a very dangerous precedent”, with many ministers now fearful that they may be treated the same if they “fairly” bring “direct challenge” in government. He said: “If the bar, the threshold for bullying is lowered that low, it’s almost impossible for ministers to deliver for the British people and I think it’ll have a chilling effect on effective government, and the British people will pay a price.”
Lord McDonald denied there was any civil service activism, passive aggression or a separate civil service agenda. He said: “I saw no evidence of a small group of activists trying to undermine a minister. The issue is a minister’s behaviour.”
However, Conservative peer Lord Marland said Mr Raab’s resignation was “almost a conspiracy by the civil service”. Speaking to BBC Newsnight, he said it was “a very black day for all employers” because a “dangerous precedent has been set” [on the issue of workplace bullying] that would “send shudders through all employers in the country”.
Hannah White, director of the Institute for Government think tank, said “no civil servant would feel encouraged to speak out in future” after the responses of Mr Sunak and Mr Raab to the Tolley report. She said Mr Sunak had missed an opportunity to reinforce standards and “the mutual suspicion which has been growing between ministers and civil servants remains and nothing has been done to reduce the risk of future problems.”
Dominic Raab’s resignation from his post as Deputy Prime Minister has sparked debate about workplace bullying in government. A retired senior civil servant who worked with Mr Raab in the Foreign Office, Lord McDonald, has said he warned Mr Raab about his behaviour but that he was unwilling to listen. The inquiry into allegations of bullying found that he was “intimidating” and “aggressive” towards officials.
In his first interview since stepping down, Mr Raab said the findings set “a very dangerous precedent”, with many ministers now fearful that they may be treated the same if they “fairly” bring “direct challenge” in government. He argued that if the bar for bullying is lowered so low, it will have a chilling effect on effective government and the British people will pay a price.
However, Lord Marland has accused the civil service of conspiring against Mr Raab, claiming that a dangerous precedent has been set which will send shudders through all employers in the country. Hannah White from the Institute for Government think tank said no civil servant would feel encouraged to speak out in future after the responses of Mr Sunak and Mr Raab to the Tolley report. She added that mutual suspicion between ministers and civil servants remains and nothing has been done to reduce the risk of future problems.