Dave Penman, president of the FDA union, said concerns had been raised about the behavior of other ministers as Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister, faced allegations of bullying by staff. He said civil servants don’t make formal complaints because they don’t feel they will be taken seriously because of the way the complaints system works. Asked by Sky News’ Kay Burley to confirm whether civil servants had told the union that several ministers in Rishi Sunak’s government had behaved inappropriately towards them, Mr Penman said: “Yes.” And asked if that behavior was bullying, he said it was. He added that it has been an ongoing issue for successive governments, with civil servants resigning over the behavior of ministers as they feel there is nothing they can do about it. Mr Penman used the example of the inquiry into Priti Patel, the former home secretary. He was found to have bullied staff but Boris Johnson, then prime minister, did not respond for six months and then dismissed the findings. “There are concerns about a number of ministers who are essentially a fixture in government,” Mr Penman added. “It’s not just about this government, it’s every government. You know, there are dozens of ministers and stressful situations. “And so at any time, you will inevitably have a situation where there are concerns about the behavior of ministers. So what you’re seeing is not just about Dominic Raab.” Read more: Officials hold meetings with civil servants to air concerns ahead of Raab’s reappointment Image: Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary Dominic Raab has been accused of bullying staff Last week, Mr Raab faced accusations of bullying public servants, including losing his temper and throwing food in his department. On Monday, Mr. Sunak said he did not “recognize that characterization” of Mr. Raab and said no formal complaints had been made against his deputy. A spokesman for Mr Raab said earlier: “Dominic has high standards, works hard and expects a lot from his team as well as himself. “He has worked well with officials to drive the government’s agenda across Whitehall across many government departments and always acts with the utmost professionalism.” Image: Rishi Sunak said he did not recognize Mr Raab’s characterization Labour’s Lisa Nundy told Sky News that when she was shadow foreign secretary while Mr Raab was foreign secretary, she heard “a number of rumors that this was a pattern of behaviour”, as well as when he was justice secretary under Johnson. “It’s been something of an open secret in Westminster for the last few years, there’s a problem in the justice department, there’s been a problem in the Foreign Office – obviously it was targeting women in particular,” he said. “This is something we hear coming up time and time again with this government, that there are allegations of civil service intimidation. “A lot of people who are not in positions of power, who feel they can’t speak out because of the huge implications and these rumors swirling around Westminster. “I think it’s really damning that Rishi Sunak appointed Dominic Raab to this position knowing that this is potentially an issue.” A spokesman for Mr Raab said they “categorically deny” Ms Nadi’s claim, while his team said his office was generally dominated by women and that suggestions he had a problem with women were “nonsense”. A source close to Mr Raab said: “This is baseless mudslinging with no basis in fact and undermines serious cases of bullying and misconduct.” Click to subscribe to The Open Secret wherever you get your podcasts
