[Oboogie]

The media are reporting that there are only 2 formal complaints against Raab but I was told by somebody very close to events that there were definitely 5 people who had grievances against him. This would suggest several complainants either don't have faith in the complaints system or they have been bought off with the offers of better jobs elsewhere in Whitehall.

Maybe.
Or your informant was misinformed.
Or the other three complainants had insufficient evidence.

[The Weeping Angel]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... minic-raab

[Youngian]

I’m assuming there’s a strong correlation between over-promoted no-marks and bullying culture

[Oboogie]

I’m assuming there’s a strong correlation between over-promoted no-marks and bullying culture

If you're brilliant people look up to you and respect you for your abilities. If you're a talentless dunce, you need another way to achieve dominance. As true in Westminster and the boardroom, as it is in the playground.

[Crabcakes]

I’m assuming there’s a strong correlation between over-promoted no-marks and bullying culture

Probably a desperate hope that it makes you look like a tough boss so people work hard for you, thus filling in the gaps from your own shortcomings.

But to be honest with this lot, it’s almost certainly all coming from the fact that they have no idea what they’re doing, don’t really want or care to find out, and just feel entitled to the power. Actual work is for the little people.

[Andy McDandy]

Raab, called out on a factual error* he'd made in an article about Irish politics, replied that he had gone to Oxford, therefore knew best, so the complainer had better shut up.

That to me summed the guy up in an instant.

*IIRC it was an election result, so solid numbers, no possibility of misinterpretation. He got it wrong, and refused to back down.

[satnav]

I think one of the problems Raab has is that he doesn't like people working for him who are brighter than him, especially if they are women. This appears to be what has led to many of the bullying claims.

[Crabcakes]

I think one of the problems Raab has is that he doesn't like people working for him who are brighter than him…

This alone must rule out a HUGE chunk of the civil service, yet not be an issue for a huge chunk of his parliamentary party

[Yug]

I think one of the problems Raab has is that he doesn't like people working for him who are brighter than him…

This alone must rule out a HUGE chunk of the civil service, yet not be an issue for a huge chunk of his parliamentary party

It is an issue for a huge chunk of his parliamentary party. That's why they're constantly attacking the Civil Service. Only, most of the others hide it better than Scaab.

[Andy McDandy]

How many of them have actually worked? Not as a think tank wonk or a parliamentary researcher, or as a media type*, but actually worked, in a real workplace with real people? Even if it's managing their own business, because what comes across is a load of overgrown school prefects playing at being boss, and loving saying "You're fired!".

Also consider the fondness of the Tories since 2010 for attack mode. Better to conjure up media friendly enemies (the caahncil, pen pushers, clever bastards etc) than admit the problems are beyond you.

*Charlie Brooker did a good piece on how the media workplace culture can turn anyone into a tyrant. Same goes for any business with lots of hopefuls chasing astronomical rewards at the top of the pyramid.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

On your first point, I was giving this some idle thought this morning.
I was thinking of that feeling when work is intense, the stakes are high and it's down to you to make it go right. When failure means that someone else suffers. When you have been going so long that you aren't even tired any more, and you still have more to do when you get home, kids to feed, relationships to maintain, and then get up and do it all again tomorrow.

Of course they have never experienced that.

I once had a conversation with my doctor about stress. As I told her, if I fucked up someone failed a GCSE. If she fucked up someone died. That's pressure. That's real-life work.

[Watchman]

If any of this is proven, the twat want locking up

Afghans died because of Raab’s delay in reviewing documents, officials told
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... SApp_Other

[Tubby Isaacs]

A third of the staff in Dominic Raab’s private office at the Ministry of Justice have claimed to have been bullied or harassed while working in their current team in the past year, according to an internal Whitehall survey.

This is astonishing.

Jobs in private office are highly sought after by very ambitious civil servants. If they could, I think they'd have kept quiet and consoled themselves with the thought that "even managed to work with the godawful Raab" was a good unspoken point on the CV.

He's likely toast.

[Yug]

Dominic Raab’s department is carrying out a major recruitment drive for private office staff, the Guardian can reveal.

A hiring spree has been launched that initially sought to recruit 10 private secretary jobs in the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) – a figure Whitehall insiders and former cabinet ministers said they had never seen for a job of that nature.

There is understood to only be one vacancy across the private offices, while the remainder of the successful applicants will be placed on a “merit list” so they can fill the role at short notice if needed...

https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... fice-staff

I wonder what reason could there possibly be to need to replace someone who works closely with Dominic Scaab at short notice, and why so many short-notice replacements might be felt necessary?

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Hey, civil servants - tell me Raab is a bully and a nightmare without saying he's a bully and a nightmare...

[Tubby Isaacs]

I recall Cameron doing this to Chris Smith at the Environment Agency. He got away with it, so Raab probably will.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... vera-baird

Dominic Raab ‘deceptively and deliberately’ undermined me as victims’ tsar, says Vera Baird

[Tubby Isaacs]

Guardian saying far more complainants than thought. Up to 24.

[satnav]

I'm glad that the figure is in the 20s because I was worried at one point that those who had brought grievances against him were slowly being bought off. At least one of the people who has made a complaint against him has been given three months paid leave to go travelling before taking up a promotion elsewhere in Whitehall. Presumably if she is out of the country she won't be able to give evidence into the inquiry into Raab's behaviour.

Rishi may well keep Raab in post until May and then sack him as part of the inevitable reshuffle that will follow the local elections in May.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I was going to ask who they had to reshuffle in. But now I look, I see a few of the remaining sane ones have been enticed into the lower ranks in the Government by Sunak. You could probably improve most departments by getting rid of the current Secretary of State, and promoting one of them, but that would leave a raft of Raab, Braverman, Barclay, Badenoch and all on the backbenches playing to the gallery of swivel eyed loons in anticipation of Sunak losing.

[Yug]

Wasn't it only two official complaints, Mr Raab?

More civil servants intended to lodge complaints against Dominic Raab over his behaviour but allegedly pulled out for fear of being identified.

Senior lawyer Adam Tolley KC is investigating a number of complaints about the deputy PM's behaviour.

But the BBC understands a number of civil servants who had intended to lodge formal complaints did not.

He is facing multiple complaints from his first stint at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), and his time as Brexit secretary in 2018. He is the subject of a single complaint from his tenure as foreign secretary.

The BBC has found that other civil servants who allegedly planned to file complaints did not. This decision came after they were told they would have been identified to Mr Raab as part of the investigation by Mr Tolley.

It is understood this is standard practice for an investigation not to take testimony from anonymous sources.

It is suggested some feared being identified in case Mr Raab were to remain in post, and he would know they had complained against him.

The BBC understands some staff who have not directly complained are now offering to act as witnesses to the inquiry. Mr Tolley has been conducting interviews about Mr Raab's alleged conduct since the start of the year.

Whitehall sources say that Mr Raab has modified his alleged behaviour on his return to the MoJ last autumn.

The senior civil servants' union, the FDA, wants to see the complaints process overhauled.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-64434202.amp


It couldn't happen to a nicer bloke.