U.K. Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab resigned after an independent investigation criticized his “abrasive” treatment of civil servants, drawing a line under a months-long saga that threatened to undermine Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s pledge to restore professionalism to the government.
“I feel duty bound to accept the outcome of the inquiry,” Raab said on Friday in a letter to Sunak that he posted on Twitter. He noted that the inquiry had dismissed most of the accusations made against him, adding: “Its two adverse findings are flawed and set a dangerous precedent for the conduct of good government.”
The loss of a key ally is a major blow to Sunak, who has sought to present his government as a departure from the Boris Johnson era defined by political scandals that distracted from the day-to-day running of the country. Sunak said in his response that he accepted the resignation with “great sadness.”
