Joseph Forward
10 Downing Street has not given a denial that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was aware of informal complaints against Dominic Raab prior to his appointment as Deputy Prime Minister in October. Impact’s Joseph Forward reports.
Pressure has been growing on No 10 to reveal the extent of Sunak’s knowledge as bullying allegations against Dominc Raab come to light. An official spokesperson for the Prime Minister (PM) has insisted that Sunak had no knowledge of any ‘formal’ or ‘written’ complaint against the Justice Secretary when the new PM took office just over 100 days ago.
Lilian Greenwood has told Impact that ‘Rishi Sunak’s failure to respond decisively… shows that he is too weak to provide the leadership our country so desperately needs’
Eight formal complaints against Raab have been revealed. These include complaints by Lord Simon Mcdonald, formerly top civil servant at the Foreign Office; Philip Rycroft, formerly head of the Department for Exiting the EU; and Antonia Romeo, the current permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice. Furthermore, the Observer has revealed that one claim against Raab represents the views of 27 other officials.
The Prime Minister has appointed senior lawyer Adam Tolley KC to investigate the allegations. However, the Liberal Democrats have called for the Government to go further and task the Prime Minister’s independent ethics advisor, Sir Laurie Magnus, to look into the details of what Mr Sunak knew and when. Labour Party MP Lilian Greenwood has told Impact that ‘Rishi Sunak’s failure to respond decisively… shows that he is too weak to provide the leadership our country so desperately needs during these challenging times.”
Dominic Raab disputes the claims of bullying and has promised to ‘refute and rebut’ the accusations. Mr Sunak is shown to be standing by his ally and Deputy for the time-being, keeping him in post despite the mini reshuffle on the 7th of February. Whether this solidarity will continue as the results of Mr Tolley’s investigation emerge, remains to be seen.
Joseph Forward
Featured image courtesy of Nick Kane via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
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