Will Sunak Sack Raab Over Report Into Bullying Claims?

Dominic Raab won’t have enjoyed his Easter break very much. The deputy prime minister has been nervously awaiting the outcome of the independent investigation into allegations that he bullied government staff.

- ADAM FORREST

Mr Raab’s political future at the heart of government now hangs on the report by Adam Tolley KC, the independent lawyer tasked by Rishi Sunak to examine a flurry of formal complaints made by civil servants. Or does it? It has emerged that it won’t be the top barrister’s report that decides Mr Raab’s fate so much as the prime minister’s interpretation of the facts laid out by the lawyer.

Mr Tolley is not expected to offer up any verdict on the justice secretary’s behaviour or any recommendation on potential punishments, keeping his findings strictly to facts – as far as they can be established.

So it will be for Mr Sunak to chew over the detailed account of Mr Raab’s behaviour and decide whether it is unbecoming enough to amount to a breach of the ministerial code of conduct. Will he sack his close ally? Or gently ask him to resign? Or could the PM decide to tough out the inevitable firestorm of fury from Labour by deciding to keep Raab in place, even if he is found to have behaved pretty badly?