‘Hopeless skewering!’ Raab lashes out after Boris accused of insulting civil servants
Raab lashes out after Boris accused of insulting civil servants
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Dominic Raab was put on the spot after Boris Johnson was accused of insulting civil servants during his CBI speech and attacked for being the reason many top advisors have left over the years. BBC Radio 4 host Amol Rajan read out a damning list of prominent civil servants who have stepped down in recent years who have reportedly clashed with the Prime Minister in the past. Mr Raab appeared angry at the attack and furiously denied there was any animosity between government workers and Boris Johnson.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, host Mr Rajan grilled Mr Raab over the Prime Minister’s “attack” on civil servants during his speech to the CBI.
During his tirade on Peppa Pig, Mr Johnson said no Whitehall official could have come up with the character which made Mr Rajan wonder why he sought to degrade officials this way.
He told Mr Raab: “The median pay for a civil servant in this country is £28,180 and they had to listen to the Prime Minister make sense of Peppa Pig by denigrating them.
“He said it’s the sort of thing that no one in Whitehall or civil servant could come up with and you do have a habit of losing the top of servants, don’t you?
“Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill has left, Sir Philip Ruttman from the Home Office has left, Richard Heaton at Justice has left, Jonathan Jones chief legal adviser has left.
“Alex Allan who quit his independent advisor standards role after his report on Priti Patel was partly ignored.
“What is it about your Government and its leader that means all of these career veterans don’t stick around?”
Mr Raab appeared irritated at the question and said it was a “hopelessly skewering and distorted account”.
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The Tory frontbencher said no one has been more supportive to the emergency services or civil service than Mr Johnson and said he has heard great things from staff.
Mr Raab then wanted to clarify the point Mr Johnson was making which is the creativity and power of the private sector to come up with inventive ideas which can be used to better everyone’s lives.
Mr Rajan steered the conversation back onto the original point and wanted to know why the servants left, arguing there was a lot of “churn” in Government.
The BBC presenter also pointed out many who quit then turn on Mr Johnson and made reference to former advisor Dominic Raab.
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Mr Raab simply said there was a lot of changes made when the Government transitioned and thanked his own justice civil servants for the hard work they do.
Sir Mark Sedwill stepped down in 2020 following reports he and Mr Johnson were at loggerheads over government decisions.
Since leaving, Sir Mark has been critical of the Government and spoke out against the plans for Afghan refugees at a conference earlier this year.
Sir Philip Ruttman worked under Home Secretary Priti Patel but was forced from his job following his whistleblowing on Ms Patel’s alleged bullying.
Sir Richard Heaton left the Justice department following further reports of tensions with Downing Street but the former civil servant said the move was “amicable”.
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