Tensions between the civil service and politicians have erupted over Dominic Raab’s bullying behaviour, after he claimed he was the victim of a Whitehall plot in which “unionised officials were targeting me and other ministers”. The FDA union for senior civil servants rejected the claims after Raab insisted he was unfairly treated by his own staff in response to the Tolley report, which found he bullied them. Union sources were also furious at the suggestion of some Conservative MPs that officials who complained about bullying were “whining” and making trivial allegations. The report, which found Raab acted unreasonably towards civil servants and intimidated them, found that those making the complaints had acted in “good faith”.
However, Raab sought in his response to the report to claim that it “sets the playbook for a small number of officials to target ministers who negotiate robustly on behalf of the country, pursue bold reforms and persevere in holding civil servants to account”. He later gave an interview to the BBC, saying: “What you’ve got is the risk here of a very small minority of very activist civil servants, with a passive-aggressive culture of the civil service, who don’t like some of the reforms, whether it’s Brexit, whether it’s parole reform, whether it’s human rights reform, effectively trying to block government. That’s not on, that’s not democratic.” He appeared to get some support from No 10, with Rishi Sunak ordering a review from the Cabinet Office of “wider issues”, including whether some of the complainants had taken too long to come forward. “The report makes clear that on a number of occasions some of these instances weren’t raised immediately, they weren’t raised in some circumstances for a number of years,” Sunak’s official spokesperson said. “There were some points individuals were not encouraged to raise by line management, so I think the point he is making is that it does raise some wider issues that he thinks it’s right to consider.”
In an internal memo, first reported by Civil Service World, the cabinet secretary, Simon Case, wrote to all officials on Friday saying they wanted to “learn from this how to better handle such matters in future”. He said today’s report “makes for difficult reading for everyone and we will all want to reflect on what it says and means”. “Senior leaders across the civil service are committed to ensuring that the civil service continues to be a brilliant place to work. An organisation where ministers are provided with first-rate support to deliver the government’s priorities and where hard working, dedicated civil servants are treated with respect, valued and able to give their best,” he added. A former head of the civil service, Bob Kerslake, now a crossbench peer, told the BBC that Raab’s claims about an activist civil service having targeted him were “absurd, I think it’s completely inaccurate, and I think it’s just one more line of attack to avoid taking responsibility for his actions”. He also said Raab’s resignation letter was “pretty graceless, and in some instances malevolent”. However, Dave Penman, the general secretary of the FDA union, told broadcasters that the process of the report being released had been a “farce” that allowed Raab to get out his side of the story first. He also hit back at the claim that unionised officials had targeted Raab, saying it was not true and the focus should be on the facts of the case. He said Raab’s response had demonstrated the allegations made against him, that he had “demeaned” the process and failed to accept “any criticisms whatsoever”. Responding to claims from supporters of Raab that some complainants were “snowflakes”, Penman told GB News: “I don’t know how you define a snowflake. Someone who can’t take criticism? Someone who blames everyone else for their mistakes? Someone who goes off in a huff? That’s how Dominic Raab has responded to the criticism levelled against him.” The FDA has also called for the prime minister to 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”. Its own research revealed that one in six senior civil servants had witnessed misconduct by ministers in the last 12 months alone, across more than 20 government departments, which it said “demonstrates that Raab is not just one bad apple, and there is a wider problem with ministerial bullying than the prime minister wants to admit”. However, No 10 rejected the idea, saying there were no plans for such an inquiry. Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the PCS union, which represents civil servants, said: “Whilst I am happy to see Raab go, this is nothing more than the latest in a line of high-ranking government members who have been caught in the act, and subsequently called out on it … Dominic Raab has been proven to be a bully, but this government has got away with treating its own workforce appallingly.”