DOWNING Street has rejected a call for a “wider inquiry into ministerial bullying” in light of Dominic Raab resigning after a five-month probe into complaints about his behaviour.
The FDA union for senior civil servants warned misconduct by senior members of the Government went far beyond the former deputy PM and Justice Secretary.
FDA general secretary Dave Penman said Mr Raab was “not just one bad apple”.
He said: “As Dominic Raab’s resignation letter makes clear, he was guilty of bullying civil servants and, therefore, had breached the Ministerial Code.
"His obviously reluctant tone and dismissal of the complaints says more about his conduct than any findings will.
"This resignation is not a vindication of the current system, it’s a damning indictment of the inadequacy of a process that relies solely on the Prime Minister of the day to enforce standards.
“The Prime Minister has serious questions to answer over what he knew when he appointed Raab as Deputy Prime Minister in October.
"The sad reality is that if he had appointed him to any other government department, his behaviour would, in all likelihood, still be going unchecked.
“Given the scale of complaints against Dominic Raab and the evidence we have produced of a wider problem, the Prime Minister must now launch an independent inquiry into ministerial bullying, along the lines of the inquiry conducted by Dame Laura Cox KC commissioned under similar circumstances in Parliament.”
But the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said an independent inquiry into ministerial bullying was not on the cards.
He confirmed Rishi Sunak had asked the Cabinet Office to look at how the Government could better handle some of the issues raised by Adam Tolley KC’s report on Mr Raab, in particular how “working practices are raised in a timely manner and how they are dealt with”.
He said: “I think that is in the interest of both civil servants and ministers.”
In his letter accepting Mr Raab's resignation, Mr Sunak told his former deputy: “It is clear that there have been shortcomings in the historic process that have negatively affected everyone involved.
"We should learn from this how to better handle such matters in future.”
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