After a study supported allegations of bullying against him, UK Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab announced his resignation on Friday, dealing the Conservative Party in Britain a new political blow.
A little over two weeks before municipal elections in which the Conservatives are predicted to lose seats, Raab’s resignation causes Prime Minister Rishi Sunak some headaches.
Prior to a general election the following year, he is also working to regain lost ground to the main opposition Labour party.
Raab had vowed to resign if any allegations against him were proven to be true. Raab had acted as the former prime minister Boris Johnson’s replacement as he took on Covid in 2020.
He was exonerated of the most of the accusations, but he nevertheless criticized the findings of a legal investigation.
“Whilst I feel duty-bound to accept the outcome of the inquiry, it dismissed all but two of the claims levelled against me,” he wrote in a resignation letter.
“I also believe that its two adverse findings are flawed and set a dangerous precedent for the conduct of good government.”
He claimed that because the standard for bullying was so low, it would “encourage false complaints against ministers” and “have a chilling effect on those driving change.”
Raab also left his position as justice secretary, where he had to deal with a backlog of criminal cases brought on by years of underfunding and pandemic-related interruptions.
Prior to being demoted for failing to return from vacation as Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, he held the positions of Brexit minister and foreign secretary.
After Johnson’s turbulent administration, Sunak, who took over for the short-lived Liz Truss in October of last year, claimed to restore “integrity, professionalism, and accountability” to government.
He earlier fired Nadhim Zahawi as chairman of the Conservative Party due to his tax issues.
Former defence secretary Gavin Williamson, who was in charge of party discipline in parliament and had a tarantula on his desk, resigned due to profanity-filled letters.
