London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 11, 2025

Dominic Raab's ex-colleagues speak out as bullying probe reaches final stages

Dominic Raab's ex-colleagues speak out as bullying probe reaches final stages

Former colleagues of Dominic Raab have spoken to the BBC about their experience of working with him, as an inquiry into bullying claims reaches its final stages.

The investigation into the allegations against Mr Raab is being led by senior lawyer Adam Tolley KC.

Dozens of people, including Mr Raab himself, have now given evidence to the inquiry.

The deputy prime minister and justice secretary has strongly denied bullying.

Mr Raab's evidence is now being reconciled with other witnesses, in a sign the probe is approaching its conclusion.

Mr Tolley has been interviewing people to gather evidence, both positive and negative, with some interviews lasting more than two hours each.

His investigation is expected to conclude soon and was commissioned to establish the facts. It will then be for the prime minister to judge whether his findings show that Mr Raab broke ministerial rules on bullying or not.

The inquiry is investigating eight formal complaints from Mr Raab's time at three government departments, involving at least 24 complainants.

The complaints relate to Mr Raab's time as justice secretary and foreign secretary under Boris Johnson, and his time as Brexit secretary under Theresa May.

Dozens more people have given evidence to the inquiry as witnesses.

The complainants cannot speak publicly while the inquiry is ongoing, but the BBC has spoken to a number of other people who worked closely with Mr Raab, who characterise his behaviour in different ways.

They wished to remain anonymous to not compromise their jobs.

Somebody who advised Mr Raab in a senior role in one department said: "I didn't personally feel bullied. I did observe though what I would characterise as bullying behaviour. There is no question in my mind about that."

They said he "expected high standards of people" but claimed he was "pretty belittling in terms of how he would go about those things".

"And he would frequently humiliate members of his private office and/or others that are working with him," they said.

"At a flick of a switch he could turn incredibly angry and pretty offensive in the way in which he talked to people."


'Belittling'


His conduct did not just impact colleagues, but taxpayers too, they say.

"Junior officials were, to all intents and purposes, protected from being exposed to his nastiness, his humiliation, his belittling, and therefore would not be invited to go to meetings with him.

"The effect was that he probably achieved something that no minister or secretary of state should try to achieve, which was to shut up those who are meant to be advising him. If you don't treat people humanely, fairly, with respect, the implications are that you're not going to get back quality outcomes."

One of Mr Raab's former parliamentary staffers says he was not a bully, but that reports about his behaviour have resonated with what they witnessed.

"There were a handful of occasions where I observed him make a member of staff cry, because he was not happy with their work. That was probably one of the things that I found most uncomfortable," they said.

"I think if a colleague cries and they come back to their desk and they're still fretting, and that happens more than once, then I think anybody should recognise that somebody is hurt from that interaction."

"If a member of his staff had delivered some work, which he didn't think was at the standard it should have been, he would tear it apart - frankly literally at times. I did observe that," they added.

"The reason I left was the intensity of the job. I think both professionally and emotionally."

Another parliamentary staffer that Mr Raab's office put us in touch with said they only had good things to say about him.

A different official, who has given evidence to the inquiry and worked with Mr Raab in multiple departments, said even in the most challenging experiences they had "never seen him swear or raise his voice".

"He was always very focused on his job, but always super nice, more perceptive than you'd realise," they said.

On hearing the news of the inquiry they said: "I was sad because everybody's experience is clearly different and it didn't correlate at all to my experience in the slightest… I think people would admit he's hard work because he is a perfectionist and he will go above and beyond to deliver for a department he wants to make changes [to]."

From people the BBC has spoken to, Mr Raab's behaviour seems to have had different impacts on different people. At times, similar descriptions of his behaviour are characterised very differently. That is the challenge for the lawyer investigating him.

The report of the investigation will be made public. Mr Raab has said he will resign if he is found to have been a bully, a judgement Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will have to make when presented with the facts.

He told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg he was confident he was not a bully and "behaved professionally throughout".

His spokesperson has said that Mr Raab has been "very clear that he has always acted with professionalism and integrity, that he has never shouted or sworn, that he has enjoyed strong working relationships with a range of fantastic civil servants, and that he will address all allegations put to him in the fair and formal setting of the independent inquiry that he called for".

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
Starmer Establishes Economic ‘Budget Board’ to Centralise Policy and Rebuild Business Trust
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Brazilian police say ex-President Bolsonaro had planned to flee to Argentina seeking asylum
Trinidad Leader Applauds U.S. Naval Strike and Advocates Forceful Action Against Traffickers
Kim Jong Un Oversees Final Test of New High-Thrust Solid-Fuel Rocket Engine
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Supreme Court temporarily allows Trump to pause billions in foreign aid
Charlie Sheen says his father, Martin Sheen, turned him in to the police: 'The greatest betrayal possible'
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
Pig Heads Left Outside Multiple Paris Mosques in Outrage-Inducing Acts
Nvidia’s ‘Wow’ Factor Is Fading. The AI chip giant used to beat Wall Street expectations for earnings by a substantial margin. That trajectory is coming down to earth.
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
On the Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s Death: Prince Harry Returns to Britain
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Murdoch Family Finalises $3.3 Billion Succession Pact, Ensuring Eldest Son’s Leadership
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Court Staff Cover Up Banksy Image of Judge Beating a Protester
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
Elon Musk Poised to Become First Trillionaire Under Ambitious Tesla Pay Plan
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
Burning the Minister’s House Helped Protesters to Win Justice: Prabowo Fires Finance Minister in Wake of Indonesia Protests
Brazil Braces for Fallout from Bolsonaro Trial by corrupted judge
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
Nearly 40 Years Later: Nike Changes the Legendary Slogan Just Do It
Generations Born After 1939 Unlikely to Reach Age One Hundred, New Study Finds
End to a four-year manhunt in New Zealand: the father who abducted his children to the forests was killed, the three siblings were found
Germany Suspends Debt Rules, Funnels €500 Billion Toward Military and Proxy War Strategy
EU Prepares for War
BMW Eyes Growth in China with New All‑Electric Neue Klasse Lineup
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
US Justice Department Launches Criminal Mortgage-Fraud Probe into Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Escalating Drug Trafficking and Violence in Latin America: A Growing Crisis
US and Taiwanese Defence Officials Held Secret Talks in Alaska
Report: Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission in North Korea Ordered by Trump in 2019 Ended in Failure
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Florida Murder Case: The Adelson Family, the Killing of Dan Markel, and the Trial of Donna Adelson
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
×