From the outside, it looked like business as usual at the Ministry of Justice this week. The department pressed the button on Operation Safeguard, telling police chiefs to make their custody cells available for inmates because the prisons were too overcrowded.
Officials were also busy working on the forthcoming victims bill, which aims to improve victims’ experiences of the criminal justice system, with the justice secretary, Dominic Raab, said to be keen to be “on the front foot”.
But inside the department, according to sources, there is a sense of calm before the storm. Raab is under investigation by Adam Tolley KC over multiple allegations of bullying, many of them from MoJ civil servants.
Dozens of his own staff have been interviewed as complainants or witnesses – including the permanent secretary, Antonia Romeo, and several senior officials who sit on the department’s executive committee – or have submitted written evidence to the inquiry, which was set up by Rishi Sunak last November but is still going strong.
Raab has denied allegations that he bullied and belittled staff, driving some to tears or causing them to throw up before meetings. One even contemplated suicide. He told the Telegraph on Friday that he thought high standards were “perfectly reconcilable” with “zero bullying”, and said he had behaved professionally throughout his time running the Brexit department, the Foreign Office and then Justice.
While the inquiry continues, officials at the MoJ’s Whitehall headquarters have “just been getting on with it” and are “still driving ahead” with Raab’s policy priorities, they say. However, they admit that the situation is “occupying a lot of brain space” at the top of the department.
“It has become difficult to manage. People are worried about their jobs and the impact on their teams, regardless of the outcome of the inquiry,” one insider says. “Those who have been involved in the complaints know that at some point he’s going to see these, so he’ll know who they are. Even if he’s not told directly, he’ll be able to work it out. People are understandably feeling jumpy.”
Government insiders believe the inquiry has several more weeks to run, with Tolley expected to hand his conclusions to the prime minister in early March. They suggest that Raab, who is off next week for the February recess, has had an initial discussion with Tolley about the process but has yet to be formally interviewed.
Rishi Sunak suggested on Thursday that if Tolley concluded that his deputy prime minister had fallen short of the standards expected of somebody in his position, he would be sacked.
“When I’m presented with conclusive independent findings that someone in my government has not acted with the integrity or standards that I would expect of them, I won’t hesitate to take swift and decisive action,” he told broadcasters. Raab has also said he would respect the findings of the inquiry.
But unlike the inquiry by Sunak’s ethics adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, into Nadhim Zahawi’s tax affairs, Tolley’s terms of reference are restricted to establishing the facts and will not conclude whether the ministerial code has been broken. That will be left to Sunak.
Patience with the pace of the inquiry is starting to wear thin, with Tolley conducting lengthy interviews with complainants and witnesses. While there is an understanding that due process needs to be followed, there is a growing view that letting it drag on much longer is not good for anybody, the justice secretary included.
MoJ insiders alleged that, with the investigation hanging over him, Raab has modified his behaviour. “He’s definitely reined it in a bit. It’s not quite so visible,” one says. “I certainly haven’t seen anything that I’d regard as problematic behaviour since the inquiry started.”
But others claim that the justice secretary is still prone to the odd outburst. “He does still lose his cool,” one says. “But he looks like he’s trying to be a bit more pleasant.”
Some officials are alarmed by recent briefing by Raab’s allies. “It’s hard to read that he’s just a demanding boss and that we’re all just snowflakes. It’s absolute bullshit; the behaviour was so far beyond a demanding boss. I’ve worked with demanding ministers before and this was totally different.”
Another adds: “This isn’t about civil servants not being able to deal with a demanding minister. Some of it sounds like it’s low level – that he might be a bit of a bastard – but that’s not bullying. But that sort of behaviour shouldn’t be lumped in with the more egregious stuff.”
Several suggest Raab is unaware of the impact of his behaviour – despite allegedly being warned by three permanent secretaries. On his reappointment to the MoJ last October, Romeo told Raab he must treat staff professionally amid unhappiness about his return.
Those who work with him claim that, beyond moderating his behaviour, the cabinet minister is carrying on as though nothing has happened. Romeo announced the inquiry in a routine internal email, but beyond that there has been little public acknowledgment.
The justice secretary even appeared in the department’s end-of-year thank you video to all staff. “It was a bit awkward but I guess as he’s still there, they couldn’t really leave him out,” one official says.
Downing Street insiders have suggested to the Guardian that, based on the evidence so far, Raab is “toast”. Many in the MoJ appear to agree, saying it would be a “huge surprise” if he ended up staying in post and “so demoralising” for staff. One warns: “If he stays in the department, senior people will want to walk.”
But questions remain over how his alleged behaviour was allowed to go on for so long, and how much Sunak knew when he reappointed him. Officials first made an internal complaint at the MoJ last March, with Romeo reported to have reassured junior staff she would talk to Raab, before informing the cabinet secretary, Simon Case.
“This has to be a watershed moment,” says one official who has submitted a complaint. “It has really shaken the top brass so I hope that after the inquiry they make sure that ministers right across Whitehall are never able to treat civil servants like this again.”
