Who used to boast about having been one of Dominic Raab’s SpAds on his CV? – Owl 

Jennifer Scott news.sky.com

Dominic Raab has resigned after he was found to have bullied staff members while working as a cabinet minister across different departments.

A report from independent investigator Adam Tolley said two complaints against him had been upheld, concluding the deputy prime minister had “acted in a way which was intimidating” and had been “unreasonably and persistently aggressive” in meetings.

The findings also said his conduct “involved an abuse or misuse of power in a way that undermines or humiliates”.

But in a resignation letter posted on Twitter, Mr Raab took issue with the report, calling the inquiry “flawed” and claiming the conclusions “set a dangerous precedent for the conduct of good government”.

In an article published in the Telegraph shortly after his ousting, the outgoing minister confirmed there had been a total of 15 allegations investigated – but also describe the probe as “a Kafkaesque saga”.

The news comes after Rishi Sunak was presented with an official report into Mr Raab’s behaviour on Thursday.

In a letter responding to the decision, Mr Sunak said he accepted his deputy’s resignation “with great sadness”, saying it “should not make us forget your record of delivery in both this government and previous administrations”.

And the PM said there had been “shortcomings in the historic process that have negatively affected everyone involved”, adding: “We should learn from this how to better handle such matters in future”.

But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the situation showed “the continual weakness of the prime minister”, adding: “He should never have appointed [Mr Raab] in the first place… and then he didn’t sack him.

“It is that decision and that weakness I think that goes to the heart, not just of this prime minister, but of the 13 years now of [Conservative] failure and it is why people desperately want a change.”

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats called for Mr Raab to resign as an MP and for a by-election to be held in his seat, saying he had shown “he is not only unfit to serve as a minister, but is totally unfit to represent his constituents in parliament”.

In the letter addressed to the prime minister, Mr Raab wrote: “I called for the inquiry and undertook to resign, if it made any finding of bullying whatsoever. I believe it is important to keep my word.”

He said the report – carried out by independent investigator Adam Tolley KC – showed he had “not once, in four and a half years, sworn or shouted at anyone, let alone thrown anything or otherwise physically intimidated anyone, nor intentionally sought to belittle anyone”.

But he also attacked the findings, saying the inquiry had set “the threshold for bullying so low” that it had “set a dangerous precedent”.

Mr Raab added: “I am genuinely sorry for any unintended stress or offence that any officials felt, as a result of the pace, standards and challenge that I brought to the Ministry of Justice.

“That is, however, what the public expect of ministers working on their behalf.”

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‘Downing Street had to weigh up difficult judgements.’

In his newspaper article, Mr Raab gave more detail about the complaints made against him, saying some staff “complained that I asked too many questions, including in budget meetings with hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money at stake, curtailed unwieldy interventions in meetings, or that they were intimidated or offended by my body language.

“These were dismissed.”

On the allegations that were upheld, he said the report concluded “I had abused my power by replacing a lead negotiator when I was foreign secretary, and as justice secretary had left senior officials feeling insulted on three occasions because of direct feedback”.

But he doubled-down on his attack on the process, saying “normal rules of evidence and procedural fairness were disapplied”, including a rule for all complaints to be made within three months.

“In my case, all the complaints were stored up for over three months, most over eight months, some for over four years – and then submitted in a coordinated way,” he claimed.

“And I was subject to trial by media for six months, fuelled by warped and fabricated accounts leaked by anonymous officials.”

Labour’s Sir Keir accused Mr Raab of “whining” when the public wanted to hear about things that mattered to them.

“There is a bigger picture here,” he said. “We have got a cost of living crisis, there is the future of the NHS that is really, really important… and we are mired in talking about the weaknesses and the inability of the government to actually deliver anything for the people of this country.

“I don’t know why Dominic Raab thinks in the middle of a cost of living crisis that anybody wants to hear about his whining about having to resign.

“What I think everybody wants is strong leadership and that has been palpably absent here.

“Why on earth was Raab appointed in the first place? Why on earth didn’t the prime minister act more quickly? Why on earth isn’t the government laser focuses on the cost of living crisis and the absolute mess of the NHS that they have made?”

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The Labour leader says that the resignation of the deputy prime minitser and justice secretary shows there is weakness at the top of the Tory party.

The civil service union, the FDA, called for an independent inquiry into ministerial bullying following the findings of the report.

General secretary Dave Penman said: “This resignation is not a vindication of the current system, it’s a damning indictment of the inadequacy of a process that relies solely on the prime minister of the day to enforce standards.”

Mike Clancy, the boss of another civil service union Prospect, also said there had been “a toxic culture at the top of government for too long with civil servants and public trust paying the price for this chaos”, calling on Mr Sunak to now “clean out the rest of the stables”.

He added: “These issues go to the heart of the anger and distrust many people feel towards the way our country runs. It is time for ministers to step up and to start restoring trust both for civil servants and the good of the country.”

Mr Raab was appointed by Mr Sunak after he took power in October, and less than 48 hours ago was sat alongside the PM at Prime Minister’s Questions.

Allegations surfaced about Mr Raab back in November, with former staff claiming he created a “culture of fear” in their departments.

He denied the allegations and requested an investigation into himself after two formal complaints were made.

As the weeks rolled on, more accusations came to light, with one report suggesting as many as 24 complaints had been made.

Mr Sunak has come under pressure over what he knew about Mr Raab’s alleged conduct, with a source telling political editor Beth Rigby the PM was informed about Mr Raab’s “unacceptable behaviour” before appointing him as his deputy and justice secretary.

Downing Street said Mr Sunak was “not aware” of any “formal complaints” about Mr Raab when he appointed him, but Number 10 did not deny concerns had been expressed informally.

Who could take over as the next justice secretary?

They will be the 10th justice secretary in 10 years and will also serve as lord chancellor, responsible for protecting and upholding the rule of law and independence of the judiciary.

For this reason, it is often the case that MPs with legal experience – normally as barristers – are the typical picks for the role.

Some names in the frame:

• Lucy Frazer: Currently culture secretary. Ex-solicitor general and junior minister at the MoJ. Former barrister.

• Victoria Prentis: Currently attorney general. Ex-senior government lawyer. Held several junior ministerial posts. Served four years on the justice select committee.

• Victoria Atkins: Currently financial secretary to the Treasury. Was a junior minister at the MoJ. Former criminal barrister.

• Oliver Dowden: Currently Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster based in the Cabinet Office. Considered a favourite. Seen as one of Mr Sunak’s closest and most trusted political allies.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has previously accused the PM of ignoring reports about Mr Raab’s conduct.

Mr Raab’s departure follows Mr Sunak’s decision to dismiss Tory party chairman Nadhim Zahawi from his post in January after the former chancellor was found to have broken the ministerial code over his tax affairs.

Tory council candidate who ran illegal landfill operation now campaigning on green credentials

A Conservative council candidate in Devon who is promoting his green credentials paid £82,000 to a local environmental group after being found guilty of running an unpermitted landfill site on his farm.

Makes a mockery of;

Tory local election Pledge 3 Standing up for our environment. You have told us how important  protecting green spaces and the natural environment is to you. We will make this a priority for this Council.

David Parsley inews.co.uk

Richard Parr, who is standing in May’s local elections to become an East Devon District councillor for the Exmouth Halsdon ward, claims in his campaign literature that a vote for him would protect the environment.

However, Mr Parr fails to mention that in 2021 he was found by the Environment Agency to have run an unpermitted waste operation on land near Exeter between June 2016 and March 2018.

In a campaign leaflet that Mr Parr shares with fellow Conservative candidate Pauline Stott, he highlights the protection of the environment among his and Ms Stott’s six key pledges to local people.

Richard Parr shares his campaign leaflet with fellow Tory candidate Pauline Stott (Photo: Supplied)

The leaflet states that the pair will be “standing up for our environment” if elected and will “protect our seas and rivers”.

The leaflet adds: “You have told us how important protecting green spaces and the natural environment is to you. We will make this a priority for the council.”

When asked about his unpermitted waste operation, his campaign partner Ms Stott told i: “I don’t even know him.”

She added: “I am all for protecting the environment and I am utterly shocked by this.”

Mr Parr claims that he will protect ‘green spaces and the natural environment’ (Photo: Supplied)

Following the investigation, the Environment Agency accepted an Enforcement Undertaking from Mr Parr, which is a type of civil sanction and a voluntary offer to put right the effects of the offence.

As part of the settlement of the case, Mr Parr also agreed to pay £82,000 to the North Devon Biosphere Foundation, which runs a Unesco Biosphere Reserve.

He also committed to carrying out restoration work on his farm, to obtain advice from an external consultant, to cease all waste movements into the site, complete construction of silage clamps and to cover the Environment Agency’s costs associated with its investigation.

Dan Wilson, who is standing as a Labour candidate in the same Exmouth Halsdon ward, said: “For the Conservatives to send out leaflets that claim they’re ‘Standing up for the environment’ whilst simultaneously standing a candidate who has been investigated for polluting, shows a complete lack of decency and integrity.”

When i approached Mr Parr for comment, he said: “I have held and operated waste permits since 2008 and it wasn’t until the end of 2016 that an issue occurred.

“I applied for planning permission, again to make improvements to the farm and on this being approved, I mistakenly took in stone without ensuring my waste competent manager had completed the recovery plan for the capacity on the waste exemption for this new area.

“Since this incident, we have taken guidance from the Environment Agency as to how we can enhance the farms improvements further.”

The East Devon Conservative Association did not respond to requests for comment.

Will the Tories lose more seats in Mid Devon? – Owl

Councillors in Tiverton have been warned they may face prosecution. Clerk, John Vanderwolfe reminded members of Purdah rules in a recent email. The rules state that councillors must also not use the council’s own social media accounts or blog platforms during this time.

Lewis Clarke www.devonlive.com 

Purdah rules also means local authorities should not publish any material which, in whole, or in part, appears to be designed to affect public support for a political party. The council can still issue media releases on factual matters provided that these do not identify individual councillors or groups of councillors.

Councillors are still free to respond to enquiries received from the media in a personal capacity. Individual councillors can issue their own statements, write letters to the local newspaper(s) for publication, contact the media directly or say what they like in a personal capacity, but must not use council resources to do so.

In an email to members, John Vanderwolfe said: “Please note that the use of social media for political or election purposes during the period known as Purdah is illegal, and indeed could result in prosecution. Leaflets are permitted providing they contain the required information on them about who is publishing and printing the material.

“Unfortunately, I have already received a complaint that one of you has allegedly broken the purdah code, and on viewing the Facebook item I actually agree with them. Whilst there are grey areas the best policy is not to put anything like that on social media until after the election.

“I know that many of you do keep within the guidelines, so this message is a reminder, but a warning to those who have broken the guidelines to exercise more care.”

The widespread revulsion surrounding the wholesale discharge of sewage into our rivers and onto our beaches every time it rains is obviously getting to Simon Jupp. 

Again he goes into print trying to shift the blame onto the water companies. Despite voting down the Lords amendment placing a legal requirement on water companies to demonstrate progressive reductions in harm caused by discharges of untreated sewage. Simon claims  this Conservative government has brought in the toughest ever crackdown on sewage spills, But these have been criticised as being too weak, and are being challenged in the Court. 

The watered down scheme Simon thinks is so good, gives water companies a deadline of 2035 to reduce the amount of sewage flowing into bathing water and areas of ecological importance, and until 2050 to stop dumping sewage elsewhere. 

He also re-announces that Sidmouth and Tipton St John are set to receive a share of £70 million from SWW’s own coffers for infrastructure upgrades to help improve bathing water quality by reducing storm overflows.

Fact check

Owl has already looked into this funding. 

According to OFWAT, the immediate funding is being taken forward as part of the Ofwat/Defra “accelerated infrastructure delivery project for English Water companies” funded through the “transition expenditure process”. 

Owl’s take on all this bureaucratic gobbledygook is that the accelerated costs will be financed initially by the taxpayer, with the water companies paying on the “never never” over a period ending in 2030.

The question then arises as to how the water companies levy their customers and/or shareholders to provide the payback. The only explanation Owl can find talks about setting an appropriate “time value of money” so that  companies are not financially incentivised to delay making investment.

These projects have not been chosen on the basis of any priority but because they are the (only) local ones that Ofwat considers to be “oven ready” (to coin a phrase).

It’s all smoke and mirrors to Owl.

Tim Farron

“The Conservatives are responsible for this sewage crisis after allowing water companies to dump sewage in our rivers for years. They need to take responsibility for fixing it. The public shouldn’t be forced to pay the price with our rivers and coasts ruined for generations to come.” – Tim Farron

Tory local election Pledge 3 Standing up for our environment. You have told us how important  protecting green spaces and the natural environment is to you. We will make this a priority for this Council.

We must do all we can to protect our countryside, rivers and coastline

Simon Jupp www.devonlive.com (Extract of relevant paragraph)

….We must do all we can to protect our countryside, rivers and coastline. I live close to the sea in Sidmouth and have relentlessly campaigned for investment in our water infrastructure. In the last few weeks, I was delighted to see multi-million-pound plans to upgrade Sidmouth and Tipton St John’s sewage system unveiled by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.

Back in February, I led a debate on the performance of South West Water in Parliament. Whilst this Conservative government has brought in the toughest ever crackdown on sewage spills, it is simply unacceptable that we pay the highest sewerage bills in the country but still witness an all too frequent use of combined sewer overflows (CSOs). They are supposed to be available in an emergency, not used whenever the system can’t cope due to a lack of investment. South West Water should upgrade their systems instead of rewarding bonuses.

The Environment Act and Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan backs this up, introduced to ensure that water companies face strict limits on when they can use storm overflows. WaterFit Live, a new website from South West Water, is useful tool to help monitor the use of these CSOs across our shores so we can hold failing companies to account. It currently shares information about water quality in our area but sadly won’t provide real-time data until later this year.

Sidmouth and Tipton St John are set to receive a share of £70 million from SWW’s own coffers for infrastructure upgrades to help improve bathing water quality by reducing storm overflows. On top of this, £3.1 million is also being invested at the Axminster-Kilmington water treatment site which will help reduce nutrient pollution to further protect East Devon’s waterways. I also want to see investment in Exmouth and Budleigh Salterton. I won’t stop my calls for change until South West Water clean up their act and our water…..

Plans to plant a new woodland have been cancelled after local councillors discovered a field was so saturated with sewage the soil could be too toxic for the trees.

Helena Horton www.theguardian.com 

The woodland was to have been planted in a council-owned field located by Otterspool Road in Romiley, Greater Manchester. Officials hoped the woodland would improve the environment, provide green space and encourage wildlife habitats.

However, Stockport councillors have learned the land is unsuitable for tree planting because of sewage discharges leaching into the ground. They were told the resulting soil contamination would make it hard to plant the trees, so they had decided to cancel the woodland.

Assessments are being done by United Utilities and council officials to find out the scale of the problem, but the council said it had decided there were too many risks to human health, including workers having to dig into raw sewage to plant trees, and there were worries the contaminants would prevent the trees growing.

This is a fresh blow to attempts by local councils to create green spaces to improve local areas in the face of funding cuts and battles to keep existing spaces open.

Raw sewage contains many problematic elements, including heavy metals that can be toxic to plants, and nutrients that can disturb ecosystems.

According to Environment Agency data, United Utilities discharged sewage at Otterspool Road 135 times last year, which amounted to 40 days of sewage flowing.

The water company was found to be the most polluting in the country last year. One of United Utilities’ pipes spilled sewage into the River Ellen, near the Lake District, for nearly 7,000 hours in 2022. Environment Agency data also showed that 10 of the country’s 20 pipes that spilled the most sewage in 2022 were owned by United Utilities, which provides water to the north-west and the Lake District.

Sewage leaks have also been reported in a nearby field when local waterways flooded. Pictures show sanitary products and other toilet waste strewn across the field.

Local officials have asked ministers to visit the field to see the devastating impact of the pollution.

Lisa Smart, the Liberal Democrat councillor for Bredbury Green and Romiley, said: “This is a devastating blow for the local community in Stockport. The council was working hard to deliver a new woodland for local people and wildlife to enjoy, however this environmental scandal has cancelled the project.

“United Utilities owe local people an apology. Their destruction of our environment cannot go on any longer. We already knew our local rivers were being pumped full of sewage, but now it is our green land.

“I want a minister to visit this field and see first-hand the destruction caused. Rather than a new woodland, we are left with an open sewer.”

The Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron, who is also the Lib Dem’s environment spokesperson, added: “This is a scandal. United Utilities are ruining our region’s environment, from the Lake District to Stockport’s green fields.

“Conservative ministers are sitting on their hands whilst these environmental scandals take place. Meanwhile, United Utilities reward their execs with multimillion-pound bonuses. Frankly, the whole thing stinks.”

A United Utilities spokesperson said: “An issue on our network caused flooding from a manhole, affecting a small section of a field in Stockport which we are cleaning and repair work is being programmed.”