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Today in Focus

A bullying politician or snowflake civil servants? The downfall of Dominic Raab

Today in Focus

The Guardian

News, Daily News

4.65.9K Ratings

🗓️ 25 April 2023

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The former deputy prime minister may have resigned but he remains defiant after an inquiry into bullying allegations. What does the scandal tell us about the relationship between ministers and Whitehall?. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is the Guardian.

0:09.0

Today, the fallout from Dominic Rob's bullying scandal.

0:15.0

The allegations around Dominic Rob had been swirling for months.

0:33.0

Is Dominic Rob a bully?

0:34.0

Are you?

0:35.0

No.

0:36.0

You're confident in that?

0:37.0

Yes.

0:38.0

As the country's deputy prime minister and justice secretary,

0:43.0

Dominic Rob maintained that he was unconcerned when an independent inquiry was launched into his behaviour.

0:49.0

I'm confident that I behaved professionally.

0:52.0

Professionally, professionally, professionally throughout.

0:55.0

The report by Casey Adam Tully was published on Thursday.

1:00.0

He looked at eight complaints made against Rob involving 24 people and spanning four years as a cabinet minister.

1:10.0

His report found Rob in some instances to be persistently aggressive and that his conduct also involved an abuse or misuse of power in a way that undermines or humiliates.

1:24.0

By Friday, Rob was gone.

1:30.0

Dominic Rob has resigned as deputy prime minister and justice secretary.

1:35.0

For Rishi Sunak to lose his deputy prime minister is a huge deal.

1:39.0

He's lost a close political ally.

1:41.0

But he didn't go quietly.

1:44.0

Rob claimed that the conclusions were flawed, that the report's definition of bullying set a dangerous precedent and that he never intended to upset anyone.

1:55.0

That prompted a lot of people on the Tory right saying, is this actually bullying? Surely this is just holding civil servants to account, being robust.

...

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