British deputy PM Dominic Raab resigns over bullying allegations probe

The British deputy prime minister and minister for justice, Dominic Raab, has resigned after an inquiry into allegations of bullying.

The five-month probe was set up by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak after complaints about Raab’s behaviour as a minister.

In a letter to Sunak, Raab had said he would resign if the inquiry “made any finding of bullying whatsoever”.

The report on the inquiry by senior lawyer Adam Tolley KC is yet to be published by the government, but Raab claimed with Sunak that the inquiry “dismissed all but two of the claims levelled against me”.

Raab said the two findings that went against him were “flawed” and “set a dangerous precedent for the conduct of good government”.

Sunak received the report from Tolley on Thursday morning.

Tolley was investigating eight complaints of bullying against Raab, who was appointed deputy prime minister and justice secretary last October. A key supporter of the British PM’s leadership bid in 2022, Raab’s resignation means Sunal must now appoint a new justice secretary.

The bullying complaints relate to Raan’s previous periods as justice secretary and foreign secretary under Boris Johnson, and his time as Brexit secretary under Theresa May.

Sunak has been under pressure to explain what he knew about the allegations before reappointing Raab as to the cabinet.

Raab, born in 1974, is the son of a Czech-born Jewish refugee who fled the Nazis in 1938. He worked as a lawyer in the commercial sector and the Foreign Office before entering politics in 2006 as an aide to Brexit-supporting Conservative MP David Davis, and then Remain-backing Dominic Grieve.

First elected to Parliament in 2010, the following year Raab angered then-Home Secretary Theresa May by describing some feminists as “obnoxious bigots” in an online article. May accused him of fuelling “gender warfare”.

Raab remained on the back benches for five years after becoming an MP, and then became a junior justice minister following David Cameron’s general election victory in 2015.

He played a prominent role in the successful Leave campaign in the 2016 EU referendum, but was then sacked by Theresa May when she took over as prime minister.

After May announced she was standing down as PM, Raab entered the contest to become Conservative leader, and prime minister. In a crowded field, he failed to get the 33 MPs’ votes he needed to progress to the third round.