Right so we’ve seen Nadhim Zahawi packed off at last as Rishi Sunak finally acted after letting his ethics advisor investigate him, too weak to have acted on the allegations himself it would seem and needed somebody else to give him cause to, the allegations themselves not sufficient to even warrant a suspension from our spineless PM. But his ongoing cowardice is very much still on show when Dominic Raab remains not just Justice Secretary, but the Deputy Prime Minister too. As weak and woeful as Sunak is, can you imagine him being deputised for by the living embodiment of Alan B’Stard? A man who bears a striking resemblance to a Jurassic Park Velociraptor and seems equally as cold blooded, particularly where it comes to Human Rights, something Raab has gone on record as saying he doesn’t believe in.
It is the allegations of bullying against the civil servants who have worked under Raab however that has scandalised him now though. The Zahawi tax avoidance story I think has largely pushed this one into second place, but it absolutely needs to be talked about because it’s quite incredible that he’s been left in those positions of responsibility as he has been.
Right now it has been reported, if you go on social media this figure has been bandied about a lot, that there are 24 civil servants who have made allegations of bullying against Dominic Raab, the people who actually do the day to day running of government, the people who actually do the practical work of running this country. People who often have been in the job for years, have worked under several governments and invariably know the job, the department they’re in than the minister who is their boss because as we’ve seen on a regular basis over the last 12 months especially, ministers come and ministers go. You’d think therefore that ministers would be quite appreciative and deferential towards their much more experienced and knowledgeable staff, but when a minister comes in who thinks they know it all, is perhaps on a massive ego trip, instead we see clashes and that’s bad for the department and bad for the country. Raab has had 24 civil service staff give evidence against his name and officially, the number of complaints against him currently stands at 8. 24 people over 8 official complaints is a lot and it really does makes you wonder what Raab is said to have done doesn’t it? Now with the number of accusations against Raab here, even a weakling like Sunak couldn’t avoid an investigation into this, but just as with Zahawi, Raab is still in post and hasn’t been suspended and just like Zahawi, Sunak was warned he was a potential liability before he was appointed to his government, the allegations against him that are being investigated now some of which stretch back years. Also, given he lost Gavin Williamson very quickly over bullying allegations at the start of his premiership, why has Sunak dragged his feet so much with Raab, particularly when there is so much more to his case? The details of what has gone on are scant, which is kind of understandable given we’re still in the middle of the investigation and are talking not just about historic bullying and abuse, but current as well and we know that because three of the people who have thusfar given evidence have been permanent secretaries and these are the most senior civil servants of all and the ones who would work most closely with the minister in charge. Since Raab first became a Senior Minister in 2018 under Theresa May, he has headed up 4 departments. In theory that’s 4 permanent secretaries. Though they of course may have changed in that time, but 3 permanent secretaries have actually given evidence against Raab as part of this investigation and that includes the permanent secretary of his very first senior role, which was as Brexit Secretary, a role he only held for four months, yet the allegations were sufficient for his de facto number two there to give evidence against him. Another permanent secretary who has given evidence against Raab, is the permanent secretary to the Justice Department, which is literally where Raab is now, has only been in post for 100 days and of course ridiculously remains in post whilst being investigated! Kudos to her for not taking any of what he’s dishing out! The third civil servant has gone unnamed at this point, but given that Raab headed up both the Foreign Office and the Office of First Secretary of State under Boris Johnson, it’s likely got to be one of those given how short his tenures have been elsewhere.
We don’t have details, it’s an ongoing investigation but given we’re going back aways in Raab’s ministerial past, it does at least look thorough. Thorough and given the number of cases there appears to be, also means lengthy which again calls into question as to why Raab has not been suspended during this time. The vague details we do have of his alleged actions, the effects it has apparently had on his victims, should bolster the case for his immediate and overdue suspension still further. Sunak appointing Raab has been described as a nasty mistake on his part, another example of Sunak’s extremely poor judgment, his third self-imposed ministerial crisis within 100 days of being in the job - Sunak has been PM for 100 days today - having already lost Williamson and Zahawi and ignoring what he was being told about his ministerial candidates, willfully casting a blind eye to all manner of sleaze given many of these scandals are inherited from his predecessors. All of it could have been avoided if Sunak wasn’t so politically puny. It’s no surprise Boris Johnson might have turned a blind eye to Raab’s apparent thuggery, but it seems Theresa May might well have done too, so what do we know about his actions, what has been the effect of them on others?