Dominic Raab’s refusal to speak to Foreign Office staff he considered “time-wasters” allegedly led to delays during the Afghanistan evacuation in 2021. The then foreign secretary has previously been heavily criticised for his actions during the drive to get people out of the country as the Taliban moved in.
Earlier this week it was announced that the embattled deputy prime minister is to be investigated after two formal complaints were made about his alleged behaviour. The complaints relate to his time at the Foreign Office and his first stint at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), where he was reinstalled as secretary of state by Rishi Sunak last month.
Mr Raab was demoted from foreign secretary to justice secretary weeks after the Afghanistan evacuation. MPs later accused the government of being “missing in action” during the crisis.
The new claims were first reported in The Guardian. The paper said Mr Raab was understood to have denied the claims.
Insiders told the paper that in the lead-up to the withdrawal from Kabul, decisions were delayed because Mr Raab would only engage with a handful of senior staff. He is also alleged to have described several senior staff at the Foreign Office as “time-wasters”.
One source told The Guardian: “This blockage was very costly. Decisions that should have taken hours took days, or simply did not happen.”
Separately, a formal complaint by mid-ranking policy officials at the MoJ in the early part of this year, which The Guardian said it had seen, is reported to have claimed: “The combination of the pressure of work and unreasonable deadlines has had such an impact on some colleagues’ mental and physical health that they have visited their GPs, and some have subsequently been signed off work for extended periods of time.”
Mr Raab has denied all allegations of bullying, and told MPs on Wednesday that he had “behaved professionally” throughout his career.
He said he looked forward to addressing the formal complaints against him, adding: “I have never tolerated bullying, and always sought to reinforce and empower the teams of civil servants working in my respective departments.”
Mr Raab’s office has been approached for comment.
