DOMINIC Raab has been accused of “sour grapes” by the leader of the union representing civil servants.
Dave Penman, from the FDA Union, said the former Deputy Prime Minister was picking and choosing which parts of the report he liked and he rejected the claim the “bar had been lowered” for what amounted to bullying.
He told Camilla Tominey on GB News: “All of this is just sour grapes from Dominic Raab. After the event he’s been found to have bullied civil servants, to have humiliated them, to have been aggressive and he doesn’t like it.
“It seems he wants to pick and choose which bits of the report he likes. He likes the bit when the complaints are dismissed, and then he doesn’t like the bits where he was found to have bullied civil servants.
“If you look at some of the words that are used in his report about humiliating people, about aggression, about deliberately targeting an individual, about being aggressive, and how he conducted himself and being deliberate about it, I don’t think that’s a low bar.
“I think what you’ve got is Dominic Raab, being absolutely convinced of his own position. The report makes clear time and again, he had an opportunity to amend his behaviour but it actually says in the report, the only time he changed his conduct was after complaints and that he should have amended his conduct before.”
Commenting on suggestions the probe against Mr Raab was politically motivated and that the union had encouraged complaints he added: “It’s laughable to be honest, as is the fact that he’s making the suggestion that we had such power as a trade union. We weren’t involved in the majority of these complaints. We do not target ministers. We represent our members. And if you look at the facts of the case, what we have actually seen in the last five years, is that there have only been two formal complaints against ministers. Both have actually been found in favour of the complainant. That’s against Priti Patel and now against Dominic Raab.”