First Sasha, according to The Times:

Sasha Swire — whose husband, Sir Hugo, helped co-ordinate Raab’s campaign — joked about it in her 2020 memoir, Diary of an MP’s Wife, depicting him as ambitious but gauche. When his name comes up as a possible contender, David and Samantha Cameron “shriek”. On meeting him for the first time, Sasha can’t decide “whether he is a real hottie or a bit nerdy”. “He appears a little frightened, a little unconfident,” she writes. Turning up at a Chequers meeting convened by the embattled Theresa May less than a fortnight later, Raab is described as looking “like he usually looks: sweaty and just out of the gym, and wanting to kill people”.

In her book Sasha Swire described Dominic Raab as looking “like he usually looks: sweaty and just out of the gym, and wanting to kill people”

Now Lord Hugo on the beeb

Hugo Swire, a Tory peer, said he thought Dominic Raab was “too big a talent” not to be back “in some capacity” following his resignation over bullying accusations.

Lord Swire told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:

“I think to lose somebody who has been a justice secretary, a lord chancellor, deputy prime minister and foreign secretary at this stage is very unwise.”

PA reports he recounted Raab’s time standing in for Boris Johnson while the former prime minister was ill with Covid-19, saying there “were no criticisms of that at all”.

He continued:

“I think this is a career which has been brought prematurely to a temporary halt because I fundamentally believe that a talent such as Dominic will reappear in some place at some time.

It is the government’s loss. I think he will be back in some capacity.

I think he is too big a talent not to be.”

Dominic Raab has resigned as deputy prime minister after an official report found he had bullied civil servants. Let’s look at the reaction on the front pages.

www.theguardian.com 

We begin with the Guardian which says “Raab quits in fury”. It reports that the investigation by Adam Tolley KC cited “abuse of power”, but that Raab believes himself the victim of “activist civil servants” trying to block the Conservative government’s work.

The Daily Telegraph has “Row over Spanish forces in Gibraltar sank Raab”. It says the report found Raab “bullied a British ambassador said to have secretly proposed putting Spanish boots on the ground in Gibraltar during Brexit talks”.

The Daily Express is sympathetic, regarding Raab as having been “Forced out for wanting best for Britain”, which it says was a matter of “unwavering determination” for him according to allies.

“Was this the day Britain became ungovernable?” – dramatic stuff in the Daily Mail which picks up on Raab’s riposte that “flimsy complaints” such as those that brought him down make it “almost impossible” for ministers to “deliver for the British people”.

The Financial Times Weekend edition leads with complaints of a much more serious nature at Britain’s peak business lobby. “Big names quit CBI after new rape allegation”. Dominic Raab is in a picture spot, headlined “End of the road: Raab strikes defiant note as he resigns over bullying report”.

“Raab goes down swinging” sums it up well on the front of the Times. The deputy PM laments that you can be forced out under a “tyranny of subjective hurt feelings”.

“Raab officials angry at ‘tone-deaf’ resignation” is the angle in the i newspaper. One subheading says “Officials who worked under Raab hit back, telling i the ex-deputy PM is ‘arrogant’ and ‘playing the victim’”; another points out the official report branded Raab “intimidating” and “persistently aggressive”.

Simon Jupp chose this week to double down on how Tories will protect the environment, placing it centre stage: 

Simon Jupp MP talks the environment in his latest column – DevonLive.

In selecting Richard Parr, who was found guilty of running an unpermitted landfill site on his farm in 2021, as a candidate for the Exmouth Halsdon ward the East Devon Conservative campaign has lost all credibility. 

Did they fail to conduct “due diligence” in their selection process? Or are they taking the electorate for fools?

You see Owl carried the story in October 2021 under the heading: Environmental Damage in East Devon – Landowners to pay.

Not only did Richard Parr agree to pay £82,000 for his infringement at Higher Bagmores Farm, Woodbury, but our old friends F W S Carter & Sons Limited of Greendale Business Park and owners of Hogsbrook Farm in Woodbury Salterton also agreed to a sum of £24,000 for sewage pollution of the Grindle Brook and burning of waste on the farm in the same period.

A search of Companies House reveals the Exmouth Candidate is a man with fingers in a number of pies.

Richard Henry PARR personal appointments –

Total number of appointments 3

Date of birth

October 1965

Q TRACTOR & PLANT LTD (05292726)

Company status

Dissolved

Correspondence address

Higher Bagmoors, Rydon Lane, Woodbury, EX5 1LA

Role

Director

Appointed on

22 November 2004

AVON BRIDGE MACHINERY LIMITED (02592102)

Company status

Active

Correspondence address

Matford Home Farm, Matford, Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom, EX2 8XT

Role Active

Director

Appointed on

19 March 1991

ALAMAC GARDEN MACHINERY LIMITED (02763843)

Company status

Dissolved

Correspondence address

Lowton Farm, Moretonhampstead, Newton Abbot, Devon, TQ13 8PN

Role Resigned

Director

Appointed on

1 April 2003

Resigned on

17 April 2003

Time for full disclosure?

Having been a Special Adviser (SpAd) to Dominic Raab when he was Foreign Secretary, where he has been found to have engaged in “abuse or misuse of power” to undermine or humiliate staff, is there anything you need to talk about? 

This was obviously a very important and formative stepping stone in your political career.

Bullying is a serious problem that affects the lives of countless children and adults. No one should have to feel unsafe or threatened by someone else, but it happens all too often in our society. While bullying can manifest itself in many different forms, the effects it has on an individual are always significant. From mental health issues to decreased self-esteem and even perpetuating cycles of further bullying behavior, the consequences of bullying can have long-lasting and damaging impacts.