Senior MoJ officials ‘could quit if Dominic Raab
cleared of bullying’
Sources say expectation is that Rishi Sunak will have
to sanction Raab once report arrives on Thursday
Aubrey
Allegretti, Pippa Crerar and Jessica Elgot
Wed 19 Apr
2023 23.33 BST
Senior
Ministry of Justice officials could quit if Dominic Raab is cleared of
bullying, the Guardian understands, with the fate of the deputy prime minister
to be decided as soon as Thursday.
Preparations
at the heart of government are ramping up for the publication of the
long-expected report on claims of bullying by Raab.
A Whitehall
source said the findings by Adam Tolley KC could be passed to the prime
minister, Rishi Sunak, as soon as Thursday. Officials in the Cabinet Office’s
propriety and ethics team are also said to be braced for the potentially
bombshell dossier to land imminently.
The justice
secretary has faced multiple formal complaints over his dealings with civil
servants including claims, first revealed by the Guardian, that he bullied and
belittled staff, driving some to tears or causing them to throw up before meetings.
The inquiry has heard from more than two dozen complainants.
Raab, 49,
who is also deputy prime minister, has consistently denied any bullying of
civil servants, including some in senior roles.
One
official told the Guardian: “If he stays in the department, senior people will
want to walk.”
Another
said that several senior colleagues would start looking for new jobs and “leave
in the near future” but stop short of quitting on the spot.
MoJ
officials believe that it is likely, given the breadth of the evidence, that
Sunak will have to sanction Raab – warning that if he does not, it would be “so
demoralising” for staff.
Internal
briefings have been prepared about how to handle the moment when the report –
nearly five months in the making – finally drops, the Guardian understands.
Sir Jake
Berry, the former Conservative party chair, criticised the “outdated” system
for dealing with such complaints in Westminster during an appearance on ITV’s
Peston show on Wednesday night.
“It does
seem to me quite wrong that when people are under these kinds of investigations
of this type that they continue in their job,” Berry said.
“Whatever
the outcome is, and we’re going to find out [on Thursday], I actually think
there’s a fundamental rethink required about how we deal with these sorts of
allegations.
“It’s a
massively outdated system that isn’t what our constituents would expect of any
of us.”
Raab is not
believed to have any public engagements on Thursday, and Sunak was flying back
from Belfast on Wednesday night after hosting a gala dinner.
Sunak was
expected to receive the report and make a decision on the justice secretary’s
future within hours. The report will then be made public alongside his
decision.
The prime
minister is also likely to face questions in the report’s aftermath about what
he knew and when. Insiders have said senior civil servants warned him of
“issues” about Raab’s behaviour before he appointed him as his deputy.
Senior
Tories believe that the report and a decision about Raab’s future as deputy
prime minister should be made as much in advance of the 4 May local elections
as possible.
However,
the timing of when the report is finished is ultimately in the hands of Tolley.
A person
with knowledge of the investigation said Tolley had interviewed Raab multiple
times and done a “thorough job”. They believed he had weighted the evidence he
had received according to the proof provided by witnesses.
“It’ll be
shades of grey,” they said. “A presentation of statements of fact means that
whether the behaviour amounts to bullying is in the eye of the beholder. In the
end, it will be the PM’s call.”
Among those
who have been interviewed or given written evidence to the inquiry are three
Whitehall permanent secretaries: Antonia Romeo, the permanent secretary at the
Ministry of Justice; Simon McDonald, a former permanent undersecretary at the
Foreign Office; and Philip Rycroft, a former permanent secretary at the
now-disbanded Department for Exiting the European Union.
McDonald is
understood to have spoken to Raab on several occasions during his tenure about
how he treated staff in his private office and during meetings.
It was
revealed on Wednesday that Raab has paid for his own legal team to defend him
against the allegations, according to an entry in the register of ministerial
interests.
No 10 said
Raab had not been entitled to taxpayer-funded legal support, unlike former
prime minister Boris Johnson, who has had his legal advice paid for by
approximately £222,000 of public funds in order to prepare for a privileges
committee investigation.
Sunak’s
spokesperson said it was an “established process” and suggested that Johnson’s
entitlement to public funds was because it was in relation to government
business – in his case misleading parliament – rather than specific personal
behaviour.
Raab’s
entry in the register reads: “The minister has engaged lawyers at his own
expense in relation to the investigation being conducted by Adam Tolley KC.”
The
report’s publication is likely to be the first of two difficult inquiries
published in the coming days, with the release of the independent report on the
conduct of the BBC chair, Richard Sharp, also expected in the middle of next
week.
A source
close to that inquiry said it was expected to be a “very uncomfortable” report
on how he was recommended for the job by Johnson.
Adam
Heppinstall KC, who was commissioned to undertake the inquiry, has finished his
report.
It is
expected to be critical of how Sharp failed to reveal while applying for the
job that he had helped an acquaintance arrange a secret £800,000 personal loan
facility for Johnson, who was struggling with money issues.
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