Rishi Sunak has received the long-awaited report into bullying allegations made against Dominic Raab, Downing Street has said. The Prime Minister’s official spokesperson confirmed the review was handed over this morning by senior lawyer Adam Tolley KC.
Downing Street said: “The Prime Minister has received the report from Adam Tolley, the independent investigator.
“He received the findings this morning – he is considering those findings.
“He does have full confidence in the Deputy Prime Minister – that still stands.
“Obviously he is carefully considering the findings of the report”.
The Deputy Prime Minister has been under investigation for months over eight formal complaints about his behaviour as foreign secretary, Brexit secretary and during his first stint as justice secretary.
The Prime Minister, who pledged to uphold “integrity, professionalism and accountability” in government, has been braced for the probe led by Mr Tolley KC Mr Raab’s conduct during stints in three departments to conclude.
Mr Raab, who is also Justice Secretary, has insisted he believes “heart and soul” that he is not a bully but defended his “forthright” approach to his work.
Mr Tolley, who was appointed in November to lead the probe, is said to have been “thorough” in his handling of the investigation.
He has interviewed Mr Raab multiple times and spoken to or taken written evidence from a number of others.
It comes after former Conservative Party chairman Sir Jake Berry hit out at the “outdated” system for dealing with complaints in Westminster which allowed Mr Raab to continue in his job while under investigation.
Sir Jake said it was “wrong” for Mr Raab to continue in his job while facing bullying allegations.
Appearing on ITV’s Peston show last night, the Tory MP said: “It does seem to me quite wrong that when people are under these kinds of investigations of this type that they continue in their job.
“Whatever the outcome is, and we’re going to find out tomorrow, I actually think there’s a fundamental rethink required about how we deal with these sorts of allegations, both in Government made against ministers and made against Members of Parliament.
“It’s a massively outdated system that isn’t what our constituents would expect of any of us.”