Tory MPs have accused Rishi Sunak of a gamble that “backfired” after two official complaints of bullying were made against his deputy Dominic Raab.
For days the prime minister had insisted he was unaware of any formal protests about Mr Raab’s alleged behaviour, following claims junior staff who worked for him were “scared” to go into his office.
On Tuesday in what appeared to be an attempt to draw a line under a series of damaging headlines the prime minister said anyone with concerns about Mr Raab should come forward.
A day later he was forced to order an investigation after two separate complaints were lodged against Mr Raab.
One relates to his time as foreign secretary, between 2019 and 2021.
But the other is about his first spell as justice secretary, between 2021 and 2022, a job Mr Sunak reappointed him to last month.
That decision is now facing growing scrutiny, in part because of the resignation last week of cabinet minister Gavin Williamson, who said he had decided to stand down to clear his name over bullying allegations.
Just hours after Mr Sunak ordered the inquiry a row erupted over its independence, amid claims of a “Tory whitewash”.
One former minister, who has supported Mr Sunak in the past, said the call for complainants to come forward had “backfired”.
“Surely you only make that call if you know no one will put in a report?” he said.
Another Tory MP, also a Sunak supporter, said the prime minister had been “naive”.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Raab, defended a confidentiality agreement he and a former colleague signed as “standard” practice.
Asked if he had ever entered into a nondisclosure agreement connected to a complaint against him, Mr Raab mentioned an employment dispute that occurred before he became an MP. “It wasn’t an NDA, but it did involve a confidentiality clause, which was standard at the time,” he added.
Downing Street said that the prime minister still had full confidence in Mr Raab. An “independent” investigator to examine the complaints will be appointed by Mr Sunak, in the absence of a permanent ministerial ethics watchdog.
However, No 10 stressed that Mr Sunak will not be bound by the findings and remains the “ultimate arbiter” of the ministerial code. Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner hit out at that process, warning of a “Tory whitewash”. Labour also questioned Mr Raab’s continued role as deputy prime minister.
Just hours after the official complaints were filed Mr Raab stood in for the prime minister, who was returning from the G20 in Bali, at PMQs. Mr Raab is a close political ally of Mr Sunak and was one of the surprise star guests when the now prime minister launched his Tory leadership campaign this summer.
Downing Street said that work had begun to appoint an investigator, who will come from outside government. No date has yet been set either for when they will be in post or for when the inquiry will be completed.
Earlier this week Lord McDonald, the former top civil servant at the foreign office, whose time overlapped with Mr Raab, said: “Colleagues did not complain to me formally, it was kind of their professional pride to cope, but many were scared to go into his office.”
“It was language, it was tone, he could be very curt with people and he did this in front of a lot of other people. I think people felt demeaned,” the former official said.
“And I tried to have that conversation with him, I had several conversations with him. But it wouldn’t surprise me today if he said ‘I don’t recognise that’, because I felt at the time that my message wasn’t landing.”
Ministry of Justice officials have also reportedly ruled there must be a senior civil servant in the room during meetings which involve Mr Raab, according to The Guardian.
The paper also reported that Philip Rycroft, the former permanent secretary at the Department for Exiting the European Union, also raised concerns about Mr Raab’s behaviour during his time as Brexit secretary.
A No 10 source said that when the prime minister asked people to come forward he “meant what he said”.
