Dominic Raab

 ( Www.dominicraab.com Official Website ) 

In November 2018, Raab was criticised by Labour's shadow Brexit minister, Jenny Chapman, after Raab said that he "hadn't quite understood the full extent" of how much UK trade relies on the Dover–Calais crossing.

On 15 November 2018, Raab announced his resignation as Brexit Secretary, citing his disapproval over the Cabinet position on the draft Brexit withdrawal agreement. According to a BBC News report, Raab was concerned with "two major and fatal flaws" in the draft agreement, namely that the proposed terms "threaten the integrity of the United Kingdom" and that "they would lead to an indefinite if not permanent situation where the UK is locked into a regime with no say over the rules being applied, with no exit mechanism", flaws which would prove "damaging for the economy but devastating for public trust in our democracy". While subsequently describing May's deal as worse than EU membership, he voted in favour of it at the occasion of the third vote on the withdrawal agreement on 29 March 2019. He described the Irish backstop as "undemocratic and ... something that will have to be removed."

Following his resignation, Raab defended the position that the UK should not pay the so-called Brexit divorce bill (amounting to around £39 billion) in the event of a no-deal Brexit. This bill reflects commitments which the UK entered into for the EU's Multiannual Financial Framework for the years 2014–2020 and so according to some interpretations is not linked to Britain's exit from the European Union. The House of Lords alternatively found that the UK would not be liable for such payments.

In June 2019, unnamed EU sources claimed that Raab had been nicknamed "The Turnip" in Brussels, a play on raap, the Dutch language word for the vegetable, suggesting EU dissatisfaction with his negotiation strategy.

In 2019, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that the United Kingdom must transfer the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius as they were not legally separated from the latter in 1965. In its statement rejecting the ruling, the Foreign Office said: "The United Kingdom has no doubt about its sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago, which has been under continuous British sovereignty since 1814." The shadow foreign secretary, Lisa Nandy, in a letter to Raab said the UK position "is damaging to Britain's reputation, undermines your credibility and moral authority".

Raab stood in for Johnson at Prime Minister's Questions on 2 October 2019, as First Secretary of State.

On 3 January 2020, the high-level Iranian General Qasem Soleimani was assassinated by the United States, which considerably heightened the existing tensions between the two countries. Raab backed the strike, describing the American action as self-defence. He said that his government had "always recognised the aggressive threat posed by the Iranian Quds force".

Raab supported Johnson's decision to allow China's Huawei to build part of UK's 5G network despite US and Australian opposition.

On 23 March, during the coronavirus pandemic, the government confirmed that Raab, as First Secretary of State, was to deputise for Johnson if he became "incapacitated" due to COVID-19. On 6 April, after Johnson was admitted to an intensive care unit due to his illness with COVID-19, Raab was asked to deputise for Johnson. In April 2020, Raab was questioned in the first two sessions of virtual Prime Minister's Questions by new Labour Leader Keir Starmer.

In April 2020, Raab warned that the UK cannot go back to "business as usual" with China after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On 16 June, it was announced by the Prime Minister that Raab would absorb the responsibilities of the Secretary of State for International Development in September 2020 upon the formation of a joint department called the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. His brief changed to Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs on 2 September, and he said that the UK would continue to spend 0.7% of its national income on foreign aid.

After the 30 June 2020 imposition by the Xi Jinping regime of the national security law in Hong Kong, Raab described the following day in the Commons what he saw as a "grave and deeply disturbing" event, dissected the affront to the Sino-British Joint Declaration in the Commons, and announced a new chapter in Hong Kong–United Kingdom relations with substantial changes to the idea of British National (Overseas) permits. Raab did not rule out boycotting the 2022 Winter Olympics over the treatment of the Uyghur people Muslims by the Chinese government.

Raab welcomed the peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, saying he was gladdened by suspension of Israel's plans to annex parts of the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank. Raab also welcomed the normalization of relations between Israel and Sudan, saying that it is "a positive step between two valued friends."

In March 2020, Raab visited the mausoleum of the Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and called Turkey a "staunch ally in NATO and one of its largest contributors of military personnel." Raab said, "The UK stands with Turkey in the fight against terrorism, and recognises the serious threat posed" by the Kurdish separatist movement PKK. On 6 October, Raab warned that the result of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan may be the strengthening of relations between Russia and Turkey, saying that a "battle for geopolitical stances is in progress. I believe that even though the behavior of our Turkish partners in NATO is sometimes disappointing, we need to be very careful with the risk that Turkey is falling into Russia's arms."

On 10 May 2021, Raab condemned rocket attacks on Israel and called for "immediate de-escalation on all sides" and an "end to targeting of civilian populations".

On 15 August 2021, as the Taliban militant group once again controlled a vast majority of Afghan territory, the Taliban began capturing the capital city of Kabul. Raab was abroad on holiday when Kabul fell to the Taliban. He returned to the UK on 16 August and said the UK government was surprised by the "scale and pace" of the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan. Defence secretary Ben Wallace admitted all remaining UK nationals and Afghan allies might not get away and said "Some people won't get back". Unnamed sources told The Guardian Raab refused to talk to some Foreign Office staff and this allegedly caused problems during the Afghanistan evacuation. Raab denies the claims. The Foreign Affairs Select Committee said the government was "missing in action" after examining the episode. Unnamed insiders told The Guardian in November 2022 that Raab limited the number of senior staff he dealt with. Unnamed sources said "Decisions that should have taken hours took days or simply did not happen." Raab allegedly avoided communicating with "those he found to be challenging voices". Dominic Raab's conflicts with staff led to delays in Afghanistan evacuation, sources claim The Guardian. 19 November 2022

On 20 August 2021, Labour MP Kevin Brennan accused Rabb of hypocrisy by refusing to be contacted and remaining on holiday in Crete while Kabul fell to the Taliban, despite having previously co-authored the book Britannia Unchained

The story of bullying allegations against Raab, which eventually led to the investigation and his resignation, had broken on 11 November 2022 when The Guardian newspaper reported that senior civil servants in the Ministry of Justice were offered "respite or a route out" of the department after Raab was reappointed, as they had been affected by his behaviour, described as "bullying and unprofessional", during his previous tenure. The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Justice, Antonia Romeo, had had to ask Raab to treat staff professionally and with respect on his return. The following days brought further media coverage of allegations of bullying: The Sun suggested that Raab had once thrown tomatoes from a salad across a room in a fit of anger, a claim Raab's spokesman dismissed as nonsense, while Daily Mirror reported that he "burns through" staff.

The former Permanent Secretary at the Foreign Office, Lord McDonald was interviewed on LBC Radio and said that he had spoken to Raab on several occasions about the way he treated staff. A report in The Times said that civil servants at the Ministry of Justice had been "signed off work for extended periods of time" when Raab was Justice Secretary and that a complaint had been made about him in March 2022, with reference to a "dysfunctional working culture" that had begun to hinder effective work in the department. Raab denied the allegations with a spokesman saying "He consistently holds himself to the highest standards of professionalism and has never received nor been made aware of any formal complaint against him".

Initially the terms of reference of the bullying investigation included just the two formal complaints made on 15 November but they were expanded as more complaints were made between 23 November and 13 December and eventually included eight formal complaints, six dating from Raab's time at the Ministry of Justice, one from his time as Foreign Secretary and one from his time as Brexit Secretary. The eight complaints involved 24 civil servants. Tolly conducted 66 interviews including four with Raab, who also made written representations to the investigation.

The report, which was handed to Sunak on 20 April 2023, found that on occasion, both at the Ministry of Justice and at the Foreign Office, Raab's conduct towards civil servants had crossed the threshold between abrasive and bullying. Raab's style was, in his own words, "inquisitorial, direct, impatient and fastidious", but the report found that he did not shout or swear at people, and did not refer to them as "snowflakes". Both the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Justice, Antonia Romeo, and the Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office, Sir Philip Barton, had previously spoken to him about his behaviour, although not using the term "bullying", but their advice had not had any impact. It was only after the investigation was announced, that Raab modified his abrasive style.

The report found that Raab had been aggressive at a meeting at the Foreign Office and his conduct had involved misuse of power to undermine and humiliate. No finding on the original Ministry of Justice group complaint was made, as it had been signed by a number of people, not all of whom had had direct contact with Raab. Regarding the additional Ministry of Justice complaints, the report found that on occasion during meetings with policy officials, Raab's behaviour had been intimidating and insulting. As far as the Brexit Office complaint was concerned, the report found that Raab's behaviour was intimidating but not offensive, malicious or insulting and so did not meet the threshold for bullying. Tolley found that all complainants acted in good faith and had no ulterior agenda.

It was up to the Prime Minister to decide whether or not Raab's conduct breached the ministerial code, which states that: "Harassing, bullying or other inappropriate or discriminating behaviour wherever it takes place is not consistent with the Ministerial Code and will not be tolerated" Raab however had previously said he would resign if the investigation found that he had bullied civil servants and so he did not wait for Sunak's decision but submitted his resignation as Minister of Justice and Deputy Prime Minister on 21 April 2023, the day after the report was handed to Sunak. In his resignation letter Raab was critical of the investigation, saying that the adverse findings were flawed and that the threshold for bullying had been set too low. He also complained that there had been "skewed and fabricated claims" leaked to the media during the investigation. One leak was reported by The Telegraph in March 2023, which said that former Prime Minister Johnson had privately warned Raab about his conduct and given evidence to the investigation. Johnson's warning was not mentioned in the report, which said that there had been "a series of inaccurate and misleading media reports about the investigation".

A month after resigning as a minister, Raab announced that he would not seek re-election as an MP at the 2024 general election.

The accounts of the Ministry of Justice for the year 2023–2024 show that Raab received a severance payment of £16,876 as a result of his resignation from the office of justice secretary. This was in accordance with the rules on payouts for ministers who leave their jobs.

On 22 June 2011, the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) published a report on The Human Rights Implications of British extradition. As a member of the JCHR, Raab proposed that the committee look into the issue of fast-track extradition of British citizens following several instances of miscarriages of justice. In an article for The Times, Raab argued that more needed to be done to protect British citizens subject to European Arrest Warrants. The JCHR has called for safeguards to ensure warrants are not issued for minor offences and when there is minimal evidence, and for checks to prevent extradition for investigation rather than prosecution. On 24 November 2011, Raab led a debate in the House of Commons calling for extradition reform. His motion had cross-party support, and was backed by Gary McKinnon's mother, Janis Sharpe.

In August 2020, in his capacity of Foreign Secretary, Raab visited Israel and the West Bank to "press for renewed dialogue" between the two sides.

In January 2011, Raab wrote an article on the use of control orders in counter-terrorism cases in which he contended that they are ineffective and should be scrapped with a greater focus on prosecutions.

In April 2011 Raab published a pamphlet with the think tank Civitas entitled Strasbourg in the Dock. The pamphlet followed Parliament's recent rejection of a European Court of Human Rights ruling (the Hirst case) that at least some prisoners should have the right to vote. Raab argued that judges had overstepped the mark in relation to the case because they were not elected. The Strasbourg judges are elected by the 324 members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe; members are drawn from the national parliaments of the Council of Europe's member states. Raab contended that many of the judges were lacking experience and as a result "are undermining the credibility and value of the Court". Raab made a range of proposals to strengthen the authority of Britain's Supreme Court, give elected lawmakers the last word on the creation of new rights, and reform the Strasbourg Court.

In July 2011, Raab called for reform of the UK Borders Act 2007, which allows foreign criminals to avoid deportation by claiming a "right to family life" under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. He proposed that the reference to the Human Rights Act be removed. He argued this could be done in a way that ensures foreign criminals could avoid deportation only if there is a "serious risk" they will be tortured on their return.

In an article in January 2011 on the Politics Home website, Raab argued in favour of transferable paternity leave and against "the equality bandwagon ... pitting men and women against each other". He argued in favour of a consistent approach to sexism against men and women commenting that some feminists were "now amongst the most obnoxious bigots" and it was sexist to blame men for the recession.

Raab highlighted the wide range of sex discrimination he said was faced by males including "anti-male discrimination in rights of maternity/paternity leave", young boys being "educationally disadvantaged compared to girls", and how "divorced or separated fathers are systematically ignored by the courts". Raab stated "from the cradle to the grave, men are getting a raw deal. Men work longer hours, die earlier, but retire later than women", noting that the pensions inequalities were still not going to be rectified for another seven years.

He was subsequently interviewed on the piece by the London Evening Standard, as well as BBC Radio 4. Theresa May, who was Minister for Women and Equalities at the time, criticised Raab's "obnoxious bigots" comment but agreed with his suggestions on paternity leave and ending gender warfare. Her remarks took place during a debate on employment law in the House of Commons.

Raab's remarks were criticised by some Labour MPs, including Harriet Harman and Nia Griffith, who said Raab should "stop being so self-pitying. The reality is that women with very good qualifications time and time again do not get the top jobs and opportunities." Raab stood by his comments in a comment piece for The Daily Telegraph, highlighting the various statements Harman had made about men, contrasting them with similar comments about women by the likes of Andy Gray. Raab also stated he had received an "overwhelmingly positive" reaction to his comments "from both men and women".

In July 2012, Raab published a pamphlet with the Centre for Policy Studies entitled Unleashing the British Underdog: 10 Bets on the Little Guy. In the report, Raab outlines 10 policies to improve social mobility and provide opportunities for those from non-traditional backgrounds to succeed.