Rees-Mogg dismisses Raab bullying report as ‘blizzard of snowflakes’
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Jacob Rees-Mogg has dismissed a report that found Dominic Raab had bullied staff as a “veritable blizzard of snowflakes”.
Mr Raab, who had been a close ally of Mr Sunak, resigned as deputy prime minister and justice secretary on Friday after a report upheld two out of eight bullying complaints against him.
The report from independent investigator Adam Tolley concluded Mr Raab had “acted in a way which was intimidating”, and had been “unreasonably and persistently aggressive” in meetings.
In his resignation letter to Rishi Sunak, Mr Raab denied the allegations and said his conduct related to his time as foreign secretary dealing with “Brexit negotiations over Gibraltar, when a senior diplomat breached the mandate agreed by the cabinet”.
Conservative MP for North East Somerset, Mr Rees-Mogg thought Mr Raab’s resignation was “unnecessary” and took aim at an ambassador reportedly involved in the accusations.
He suggested the ambassador in question was too soft and said: “Is our ambassador a complete wet wipe?”
“You can’t intimidate an ambassador and, if you can, then the ambassador is no good.”
He added: “Ambassadors have to have a backbone to represent the country abroad.”
Mr Rees-Mogg said: “The main complaint that was upheld relates to an ambassador, an extraordinarily senior figure who was deliberately going against government policy in Gibraltar, an issue of the highest sensitivity.
“It seems that all Mr Raab did was raise the question of the Civil Service code, which wasn’t being followed. We cannot have a situation where ambassadors can ignore government policy, can freelance, can suggest that foreign forces should go onto British sovereign territory and not at least be held to account. So that seems a double standard.
“Civil servants can behave appallingly, whereas ministers do something perfectly normal and have to resign. I think this is quite wrong.”
The Foreign Office declined to comment on Mr Rees-Mogg’s remarks.
‘A veritable blizzard of snowflakes’
Mr Rees-Mogg went on to condemn the nature of the report in that it “didn’t set out in detail what the complaints were” making it “much harder” for Mr Raab’s defence.
Referring to the complainants, the backbencher said: “I think now we’ve seen the report. It’s a veritable blizzard of snowflakes.”
Mr Raab attacked the findings of the report as “flawed”, and claimed they “set a dangerous precedent for the conduct of good government”.
Meanwhile, the Institute for Government thinktank said the bullying investigation has led to a “complete breakdown” in trust between ministers and civil servants.
Following Mr Raab’s departure, Oliver Dowden was named as the deputy prime minister and Alex Chalk, the justice secretary.
