Raab quits but his petulance and anger say it all

Sean O’Grady, The Independent

The report on his behaviour by Adam Tolley KC must have been just as devastating as was rumoured, and Raab’s unprofessional, even batty, ways just as repugnant to the nicely-mannered Rishi Sunak as one might have guessed. For what it’s worth, I don’t actually think Sunak “dithered” over Raab, but will have taken the time in his busy schedule to take advice, understand the issues, consider, no doubt, Raab’s pleas in mitigation, and only then made a decision with some consequences for himself and his government, as well as Raab.

In the end, Raab took the slightly more dignified route of quitting rather than being publicly fired, as he once promised he would, but that’s about all he can say about this miserable denouement.

Now, Raab’s political “equity” stands at zero, a shamed bully of a minister, with an indifferent record (especially on the British evacuation from Kabul), with odd habits (the same Pret sarnie for lunch every single day), and with a seat certainly going to be lost to the Liberal Democrats at the next election.

Esher and Walton deserves better, as the slogan goes, and so does the Tory party and the government. What will Dom do next? Certainly not run a bullying helpline. All those big corporates and professional partnerships that preach against bullying in the workplace are unlikely to put him on the board. The plan for the national speaking tour based on the book, Getting the Best out of People the Raab Way will have to be cancelled now, along with the HR consultancies.

You can well imagine Raab flicking through the Tolley report, vein throbbing in his forehead, pulling that smile-grimace, his tongue flicking at his lips in frustration.

He sounds an angry and petulant man, with none of the sort of humility that might one day help rehabilitate him: “Whilst I feel duty-bound to accept the outcome of the inquiry, it dismissed all but two of the claims levelled against me. I also believe that its two adverse findings are flawed and set a dangerous precedent for the conduct of good government.”

In Raabworld, the threshold for bullying is too low, and he should only have been forced out if he’d leaped over his desk and karate-kicked some hapless private secretary who’d forgotten their pen. He seems not to see how bullying can be a much more insidious affair. No doubt he feels a bit bullied and sorry for himself now. Deluded.

So Sunak made the correct, decision, and with due consideration. Had he tried to hang on to Raab he’d have been shamed. He is, at least in this case, living up to the ideals in the speech he made outside Downing Street on his first day, about brining professionalism and integrity into every area of the government. “Trust must be earned”, said Sunak, and he has done so here.

He will also have found it relatively painless to jettison Raab. Despite being Sunak’s leadership campaign manager, they don’t seem to be especially close personally, and Raab’s tilts at the party leadership demonstrate he hasn’t got a huge “following” in the party.

Indeed, at the moment it is Suella Braverman who’s aggressively positioning herself as the leader of the right, and no one but no one can outflank her. That is why she, who ought to have stayed sacked after Truss dismissed her and Sunak reinstated her, is still in place. Raab just hasn’t got a faction of his own, and there’s no such thing as Raabism. There never will be, now. The public won’t be much bothered about Raab either way.