Who is Dominic Raab and is he Deputy Prime Minister?
DOMINIC Raab has been demoted to Justice Secretary in Boris Johnson’s radical Cabinet reshuffle.
But the former Foreign Secretary has been handed the role of Deputy Prime Minister.
Who is Dominic Raab?
Raab is the son of a Czech-born Jewish father who came to Britain in 1938 to escape Nazi Germany.
Due to his mother’s background, he was raised in the Church of England.
The 47-year-old studied law at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, and won the Clive Parry Prize for international law.
He then did a master’s degree at Jesus College, Cambridge.
Raab started his working life at Linklaters in London and qualified as a solicitor in 2000.
He then joined the Foreign Office where he advised on a number of areas including the Arab-Israeli conflict, the EU and Gibraltar.
Between 2006 and 2010 he worked in Parliament as Chief of Staff to David Davis and Dominic Grieve.
He was elected to Parliament in the 2010 election where he represented Esher and Walton, a safe Conservative seat in Surrey.
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After Davis resigned as the Brexit Secretary on July 9, 2018, Raab took up the post.
But he didn’t last long in the job, resigning on November 15, 2018, after disagreeing with the draft Brexit withdrawal agreement.
Raab entered the Tory leadership race but was eliminated in the second round, then throwing his support behind favourite Boris Johnson.
On July 24, 2019, he was appointed Britain’s Foreign Secretary, replacing Johnson’s leadership rival Jeremy Hunt.
But on September 15, 2021, he was demoted from the post, now taking on the role of Justice Secretary.
He is married to wife Erika and the couple have two children.
Is he Deputy Prime Minister?
To soften the blow of his demotion, Boris Johnson gave Raab the job title of Deputy Prime Minister – a symbolic promotion from his role as First Secretary of State.
He is said to have fought hard for his new title in desperate negotiations with the PM.
Prime Ministers are not obliged to choose a deputy.
Why was he axed as Foreign Secretary?
Embattled Mr Raab accepted a humiliating shunting from Foreign to Justice Secretary following a terse meeting with the PM.
However, he said he was “delighted” to have been appointed Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister and will turn his attention to cutting crime.
His handling of the crisis in Afghanistan put him under severe pressure – with other cabinet figures briefing heavily against him, and opposition parties demanding he resign or be sacked.
The most heavy criticism came after it was revealed he had jetted off on a luxury holiday two weeks after his own officials warned the Taliban could soon take Afghanistan.
The bombshell document, published on July 22, 2021, and seen by The Sun, warned of cities falling and security collapsing as extremists advanced.
But Raab, who says he was told they would be held off, flew to a five-star hotel in sunny Crete a fortnight later on August 6, 2021.
He only returned home in the early hours of August 15, 2021, — the day Afghan capital Kabul fell.
An exclusive Sun on Sunday poll found 62 per cent of Brits wanted him booted out of the job over his handling of the crisis in Afghanistan.