Rishi Sunak was accused of “dithering” as he failed to publicly back or sack his deputy despite receiving a long-awaited report into his alleged bullying.
The prime minister risked the fury of Tory MPs over the fate of Dominic Raab. One minister described the lack of a decision, hours after the results of an independent investigation were handed to No 10, as “mad”.
“Why prolong the agony?” they said.
Another former minister said Mr Sunak should have decided whether to keep or remove Mr Raab swiftly, adding: “It’s a mess”.
Sir Alistair Graham, a former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, told The Independent the delay was “puzzling” and looks like “sloppy government”.
He previously said the allegations should be investigated, with possible sanctions attached if they were found to be true.
He said: “Normally you can read these things quite quickly and come to a conclusion, so it is puzzling and seems to suggest he is desperately trying to find a way not to get rid of him.
“It looks like sloppy government. You have the report and people, especially the people who made the allegations, want to know if their view has been sustained. They are being shortchanged.
“It shows a lack of sensitivity toward a group of important people who have made serious allegations.”
Senior officials in Mr Raab’s department have threatened to quit if Mr Sunak keeps his deputy in post but government sources said Mr Sunak was taking time to “go through the report thoroughly and consider”.
Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner accused Mr Sunak of dithering and “trying to summon up the guts to sack his own deputy”.
Liberal Democrats chief whip Wendy Chamberlain said: “People will be fed up with this dither and delay”, adding: “It feels like almost every week there is an issue with sleaze and scandal where Sunak is either implicated himself or too weak to get to grips with it.”
Mr Raab has denied allegations of bullying – insisting that he believes “heart and soul” that he is not a bully. He has also pledged that he would resign if a bullying claim is upheld.
He is understood to have read the report but has yet to speak to Mr Sunak.
The deputy PM has been under investigation since November over eight formal complaints about his behaviour as foreign secretary, Brexit secretary and his first stint as justice secretary.
Senior civil servants have prepared briefing packs for new ministers, if Mr Raab was to be sacked and a mini-reshuffle becomes necessary, The Independent understands. But the move is standard precaution, rather than an expectation that the justice secretary would be sacked.
One person involved in the process described the report by Adam Tolley KC as “devastating” while a senior government official said Mr Raab was “toast”, according to the Financial Times.
Mr Raab was accused of causing staff to break down in tears or throw up before meetings. The minister was also accused of chucking Pret a Manger tomatoes across a room in a “fit of rage” – a claim he denied.
Dave Penman, the leader of the FDA civil service union, said some staff who worked with the senior Tory minister had suffered “mental health crises” and had been forced to quit and downgrade jobs because working with him too difficult.
Mr Tolley is said to have been “thorough” in his handling of the investigation, having interviewed Mr Raab multiple times and spoken to or taken written evidence from a number of other senior figures.
As the ultimate arbiter, it is up to Mr Sunak to decide if Mr Raab has broken the ministerial code.
Senior officials at the Ministry of Justice are preparing to quit if the PM chooses to keep Mr Raab in government because it would be “demoralising” for staff. “If he stays in the department, senior people will want to walk,” one official told The Guardian. Another said some would get ready to “leave in the near future”.
Mr Sunak said in November that he “was not and am not aware of any formal complaints about Dominic’s behaviour” – but refused to say whether he knew of informal warnings about Mr Raab before appointing him.
It emerged in the heavily delayed register of ministerial interests this week that Mr Raab had paid for his own legal team to defend himself against the allegations.
The decision to pay for his lawyers came despite the taxpayer footing an estimated £222,000 bill for Boris Johnson’s legal fees in the Partygate inquiry into whether he lied to MPs.
