Dominic Raab is not the first, and probably won’t be the last, UK minister to face bullying allegations.

In 2020, former home secretary Priti Patel refused to resign after an investigation found she had bullied staff while Boris Johnson's adviser on the ministerial code resigned after the then-prime minister rejected the findings and backed his colleague.

Mr Raab, the Deputy Prime Minister and UK Justice Secretary, has denied all allegations against him.

Civil servants working under Mr Raab have claimed he "expected high standards of people" and was "pretty belittling in terms of how he would go about those things".

Claims include that "he would frequently humiliate members of his private office and/or others that are working with him".

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

It had been reported that senior officials in the Ministry of Justice could quit if Mr Raab is cleared of the bullying claims – setting out a war path between elected ministers and the UK civil service.

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Westminster’s bullying culture is not exclusive to the Conservatives.

SNP MP Patrick Grady was suspended from the House of Commons for two days after an independent investigation into an incident of sexual harassment against a party staffer at a London pub in 2016.

Politicians treating officials with contempt is nothing new.

US President Lyndon Johnson would often hold key meetings with officials while he was on the toilet. Politicians on all sides of the political divide have been accused of scolding, shouting and harassing staff members.

During the Partygate scandal, an attempt was made to throw civil servants under the bus by Tory politicians.

But Holyrood’s culture is cut from a different cloth to that of Westminster.

The Scottish Parliament does not have the engrained drinking culture that makes up life at Westminster.

At Holyrood, there is more of a sense that ministers and civil servants are on the same team. Maybe that is a symptom of more than 15 years of the same party being in Government at Bute House.

Political opponents have, in the past, warned the line between SNP party official and civil servant has often been blurred, while there have been past allegations of government officials looking over press queries for the SNP.

But different ministers’ personalities will shine through to their team of civil servants.

One official in the Scottish Government’s health department told me that...

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