First it was Suella Braverman, then it was Gavin Williamson, now it is Dominic Raab. Three ministers have been in the crosshairs of Westminster’s press pack these past three weeks. The first survived, the second resigned and now it is the turn of the Deputy Prime Minister to experience life at the centre of a media storm. The questions facing Raab are of personal conduct, with anonymous briefings aplenty about his allegedly aggressive demeanour, treatment of staff and aversion to Pret sandwiches.
One person though who is more than happy to go public with his views is Sir Simon McDonald, the Permanent Secretary at the Foreign Office between 2019 to 2020 when Raab was Foreign Secretary. McDonald has done several interviews in the last few days, telling Times Radio that many Foreign Office staff were ‘scared to go into his [Raab’s] office’ and that he was ‘abrasive and controlling’ to ministers and officials.
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