When Rishi Sunak accepted Dominic Raab’s resignation back in April, the prime minister seemed to leave open the possibility of Raab’s return to frontline politics. As a longstanding ally of Sunak, it seemed plausible enough that the outgoing justice secretary might return to government at a future reshuffle, penance paid. Perhaps he would even get his old job back, and call the British bill of rights back from the grave for a third time.
We will never know. This week, Raab announced that he intends to stand down as a member of parliament at the next election. He is not yet 50, and has been an MP for just 13 years.
