A third of staff in Dominic Raab’s private office at the Ministry of Justice say they have been abused or harassed while working in their current team in the past year, according to an internal Whitehall survey.
The results of this week’s survey of civil servants, leaked to the Guardian, showed that 10 of the 33 people who worked most closely with the justice minister said they had been the victim of misconduct.
The figure, which represents 30% of the total number of employees in the Private Office Directorate, is a more than four-fold increase on the 7% who claimed to have been abused or harassed at work in the previous year. The directorate of the private office includes officials working for Raab, his junior ministers and the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Justice.
The numbers were significantly higher in the private office than in the rest of the Ministry of Justice headquarters in Whitehall, where 8% of staff said they had been abused or harassed at work over the two years. For the entire civil service, the figure is 7%.
The survey, which is completed by all MP employees in September and October each year, is anonymous and does not reveal who is accused of harassment within the team.
Raab has faced eight formal complaints of alleged harassment, six of them from his first stint in the role, which he held for 12 months until September 2022, when he was sacked by Liz Truss. He was reappointed a month later by Rishi Sunak.
The deputy prime minister has vowed to “thoroughly refute and rebut” the original three official complaints he already faces, one from the Ministry of Justice and two from his time as foreign secretary and Brexit secretary.
The five latest formal charges, confirmed by No 10 on Wednesday, came as a blow to Raab’s attempts to clear his name and raised further questions about Sunak’s judgment in reappointing him to such a high post.
The new complaints are believed to be from senior government officials with direct experience of alleged harassment and aggressive behavior by Raab during his first stint in the job.
Senior Tories have questioned why the justice secretary has been allowed to remain in office while a growing number of complaints against him are investigated.
Former party chairman Jake Berry told Talk TV that keeping Raab in place was a “hard line to keep the government going”, adding: “In the real world, people will look at this and say it doesn’t feel right.”
Shadow Home Office Secretary Stephen Kinnock said Raab should be suspended while the complaints are investigated by leading employment barrister Adam Tolley QC, who was appointed by Sunack.
He told the BBC: “There is a very strong case for him to be removed and there is a very strong case for him to reconsider his position. That’s an outrageous number of complaints against him.
However, No 10 rejected calls for Raab’s removal. The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “We think the right approach is to let the independent investigator do his job and not pre-empt this process.”
Last week, Raab said civil servants had never raised concerns about his conduct during his seven years as minister, as he stormed anonymous media briefings and insisted he had always conducted himself professionally.
However, the Guardian reported that Antonia Romeo, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice, had to speak to Raab when he returned to the department under Sunak to warn him that he should treat staff professionally and with respect at the background of unhappiness since his return.
The Guardian also reported that Raab was warned about his behavior towards officials during his time as foreign secretary by a senior civil servant in the department, who then informally reported his concerns to the cabinet’s rectitude and ethics team.
A source said: “The problem is that Dom doesn’t even know he’s doing it. There’s a piece missing somewhere. He really thinks he’s just being a tough boss. He just doesn’t understand that this behavior is not acceptable in the modern workplace.
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