Boris Johnson ‘privately warned’ Dominic Raab about ‘bullying’ behaviour while PM
Boris Johnson privately warned Dominic Raab about his behaviour towards staff when the latter served in his cabinet, an investigation has heard.
The former prime minister is understood to have provided evidence to Adam Tolley KC, a lawyer investigating a series of bullying allegations made by senior civil servants against Mr Raab.
According to the Telegraph, it is considered ‘highly unusual’ for a former PM to be involved in an investigation launched by Downing Street.
It is not clear what evidence Mr Johnson gave, but his spokesman said ’it would be inappropriate to comment on an ongoing inquiry.’
But the revelation that Mr Johnson felt it necessary to warn Mr Raab about his conduct demonstrates the severity of the allegations against him.
Mr Raab, who currently serves as both Deputy PM and justice secretary, is facing at least eight formal complaints involving 24 people connected not only to the justice department but also the Foreign Office and the Brexit department, where he previously held cabinet positions.
Dozens of witnesses, including top departmental civil servants, are believed to have spoken to the inquiry about Mr Raab’s behaviour towards his junior staff, which broadly focus on claims of a demeaning and forthright attitude.
Amongst the charges levelled against Mr Raab are claims he ‘belittled and demeaned’ civil servants and was ‘very rude and aggressive’ to them on multiple occasions each day.
Raab has denied claims he mistreated his staff, and confirmed he would resign from government if an inquiry into his conduct found him guilty of bullying.
‘If an allegation of bullying is upheld, I would resign,’ the deputy PM previously told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge last month.
It has been one week since Mr Raab was interviewed by Mr Tolley, indicating that the official inquiry could be drawing to a conclusion.
It was unclear how many times he had been interviewed or when.
Rishi Sunak has resisted calls to suspend his deputy while under investigation, including from former Tory party chairman Sir Jake Berry, Labour and the FDA union which represents senior civil servants.
If the investigation is damning, Mr Sunak will again face questions about what he knew about the allegations before bringing Mr Raab back into the Cabinet.
Downing Street has only ruled out the Prime Minister being aware of ‘formal complaints’, but sources say he had been warned about his ally’s behaviour.
Mr Raab ordered the investigation in November after coming under pressure following numerous claims, including that he was so demeaning to junior colleagues that many were ‘scared’ to enter his office.
A Cabinet Office spokesman said: ‘Adam Tolley KC is conducting an independent investigation into allegations against Dominic Raab. It would not be appropriate to comment further whilst that is ongoing.’
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