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Raab's 'activist civil servants' claim is 'absurd' and inaccurate, says former civil service head
Bob Kerslake, the former head of the civil service, criticised Dominic Raab’s claims of being targeted by “activist civil servants” as “absurd” and inaccurate.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s PM programme, Lord Kerslake said: “I think it’s absurd, I think it’s completely inaccurate, and I think it’s just one more line of attack to avoid taking responsibility for his actions.”
Kerslake said he found Raab’s resignation letter to be “pretty graceless” and “in some instances malevolent”.
“He seems to lash out at everybody but doesn’t accept personal responsibility for any of his own behaviour, and I think the issue here he’s trying to turn it into – some kind of constitutional question of good government – simply doesn’t stand up,” he said.
“Every civil servant would accept that ministers have a right to directly oversee negotiations or even to critique advice. What isn’t acceptable is the way he did it,” Kerslake said, adding that the Tolley report was “pretty damning”.
“I don’t know how much clearer [the report] could be about this being about Dominic Raab’s behaviour and not constitutional government,” he said.
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