UK

Dominic Raab is recruiting new staff to run his private office amid claims he was “abrasive and controlling” of previous aides, The Independent has learned.Opposition MPs said it was unsurprising that there were vacancies to fill working with the deputy prime minister and said it was “outrageous” that allegations against him were effectively being ignored in government. The search for new staff comes as a top mandarin warned that some officials were too scared to enter Mr Raab’s office and that he was obvious the effect his behaviour had on colleagues despite a talking-to. More

Council tax will go up following this week’s crucial autumn statement but the wealthy will feel most of the pain, Jeremy Hunt has said.The chancellor rejected a plea from Labour to hold down bills – as the Conservative 2019 election manifesto promised – insisting some “very difficult announcements” are unavoidable on Thursday.“We are going to be asking everyone to contribute more – but we’ll be asking people who have more, to contribute even more. And that will be reflected in our decisions on council tax,” Mr Hunt told MPs. More

Staff working for Dominic Raab were “scared to go into his office” because of his “controlling” behaviour, a former head of the diplomatic service has revealed.Simon McDonald has heaped further pressure on the deputy prime minister over his alleged bullying of his officials – saying he warned Mr Raab to change his approach.“It was language, it was tone, he would be very curt with people. And he did this in front of a lot of other people,” said the former top civil servant, of their time together at the Foreign Office. More

Anyone with concerns about bullying by deputy prime minister Dominic Raab should come forward and report them, Rishi Sunak has said.The prime minister’s call came after a former head of the civil service at the Foreign Office said junior colleagues were “scared” to go into Raab’s office because of his demeaning and abrasive behaviour.Lord McDonald said he raised his concerns to Cabinet Office investigators at the time, and urged Mr Sunak to “have another look” at bullying complaints procedures. More

Rishi Sunak has delivered a sharp rebuke to Russia at the G20summit of world leaders in Indonesia, telling Vladimir Putin to “end this barbaric war”.Facing Putin’s foreign secretary Sergei Lavrov across the conference table, Mr Sunak denounced the invasion of Ukraine as “illegal” and described Russia’s weaponization of food and energy supplies as “unacceptable”.It was the first time a UK prime minister has gone face-to-face with a representative of the Moscow regime since the start of the invasion in February, and came a day after Mr Sunak described Putin’s Russia as a “pariah state”. More

Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Parliament’s standards watchdog has hinted that she is investigating Tory MP Gavin Williamson over claims he used money as leverage with another MP. Mr Williamson allegedly provided hardship funds to […] More

Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Rishi Sunak has suggested that Matt Hancock is demeaning the “noble” calling of politics by taking part in ITV gameshow I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! The […] More

Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Rishi Sunak has called on high-earning executives to “embrace pay restraint” during the current period of soaring inflation and looming recession. The prime minister warned that generous pay awards at […] More