Dominic Raab resigns: The karate black belt MP who briefly ran the country but faced bullying claims
For almost three weeks, at the height of a once-in-a-generation crisis, Dominic Raab was in charge of the UK government.
When Boris Johnson was admitted to intensive care with COVID in April 2020, it was Mr Raab who took over at the top.
Addressing the public during a Downing Street news conference shortly after taking over the prime minister’s responsibilities, Mr Raab vowed that he and the rest of the cabinet would “not blink or flinch in the task ahead at this crucial moment”.
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Dominic Raab resigns
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“He’s not just the PM – our boss – for all of us in cabinet he is also our colleague, our friend,” Mr Raab said. “If there is one thing I know about this prime minister; he’s a fighter.”
Later that year, he revealed just how serious that moment had been, saying: “I really worried we might lose him.”
It may have marked the most dramatic moment in his time at the top of government, but even without it, the period since he first joined the cabinet in 2018 has not been short of political tumult.
Before politics
An Oxbridge-educated lawyer, Mr Raab also had a career in the legal sector and then as a Foreign Office lawyer during the New Labour years.
This included defending then prime minister Tony Blair in a lawsuit lodged by Slobodan Milosevic, the ex-leader of Yugoslavia.
In 2006, Mr Raab, a karate black belt, moved into politics, working as an aide to then shadow home secretary David Davis.
He also had a spell working for Dominic Grieve, who went on to serve as attorney general during Theresa May’s premiership.
Entrance into parliament
In 2010, Mr Raab stood to be the MP for Esher and Walton after fellow Conservative Ian Taylor stood down.
The seat’s majority surged from just over 7,000 to close to 20,000 as David Cameron came to power in coalition with the Liberal Democrats.
Mr Raab spent his early years in parliament as a backbencher, at one point co-authoring a book on economics called Britannia Unchained: Global Lessons for Growth and Prosperity.
His co-authors on the treatise were Liz Truss, Kwasi Kwarteng, Chris Skidmore and Priti Patel.
In the 2015 election, Mr Raab’s majority in Esher and Walton swelled to close to 30,000.
He was subsequently appointed as a junior minister under Michael Gove, who was then the justice secretary.
Mr Raab’s role included being the minister for human rights.
Mr Raab gives a speech at the Vote Leave campaign headquarters in June 2016
Support of Brexit and entrance to the cabinet
In 2016, Mr Raab announced he would be supporting the departure of the UK from the European Union.
He was a prominent campaigner working with the Vote Leave organisation.
Mr Raab spoke of his confidence that the UK would strike a trade deal with the EU in the wake of Brexit.
Following the result of the referendum and the resignation of Mr Cameron, Mr Raab stayed on as a government minister in the justice department under Theresa May.
His majority then slipped from close to 30,000 to around 23,000 in the 2017 general election.
In January 2018, Mrs May reshuffled her government and he became a housing minister under Sajid Javid.
It was only a few months later, in July 2018, that Mr Raab joined the top table of government.
When his former boss, David Davis, resigned as Brexit secretary over Mrs May’s Chequers proposal, Mr Raab was tapped as his replacement.
Shortly after taking up the position, Mr Raab was criticised for his comments when he said he “hadn’t quite understood” how reliant UK-EU trade was on the crossing between Dover and Calais.
In November 2018, Mr Raab resigned from the government over his opposition to the Brexit deal which had been agreed with the EU.
But by the following March, amid the nights of endless votes on Brexit, Mr Raab changed tack and voted to support Mrs May’s deal, as he said otherwise there was a “significant risk of losing Brexit altogether”.
Mr Raab launched his Tory leadership campaign in 2019
Failed leadership run – and actually running the country
After Mrs May stood down as prime minister in 2019, Mr Raab ran to replace her.
While he was never expected to win, his 30 or so supporters gave him negotiating power for a plum job with eventual winner Boris Johnson.
Coming out of the race, he was appointed foreign secretary – one of the great offices of state.
Mr Raab was also given the title of first secretary of state – becoming de facto deputy prime minister.
In the December 2019 election, Mr Raab’s majority collapsed from around 23,000 to under 3,000.
But he kept his position in the cabinet of Mr Johnson’s new majority government.
Mr Raab gives the government’s daily coronavirus update in 2020
The first secretary of state role is one that puts a minister above all other secretaries of state, which is the rank of most cabinet ministers.
Held by George Osborne under David Cameron, John Prescott under Tony Blair and Michael Heseltine under John Major, it is a role not always filled and not one often called upon.
But during the COVID pandemic, Mr Raab had to step up to the plate and lead the government when Mr Johnson was admitted to hospital with coronavirus.
After Mr Johnson was diagnosed with the virus at the end of March 2020, it was confirmed Mr Raab would be in charge of the country should the prime minister be unable to discharge his duties.
On 5 April that year, Mr Johnson was admitted to hospital and Mr Raab stood in, chairing meetings, delivering news conferences and responding at Prime Minister’s Questions.
It was only on 27 April 2020 that Mr Johnson once more took over again as prime minister.
Mr Raab visits the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan as foreign secretary. Pic: Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street
Hong Kong, Afghanistan and exiting the Foreign Office
After stepping back from running the country, Mr Raab returned to running the Foreign Office.
He was still dealing with the impacts of the pandemic, and it was soon announced that the international development brief would be added to his portfolio.
In the summer of 2020, Mr Raab announced the UK would offer a route for people from Hong Kong who held British National (Overseas) status to Britain after China effectively took over the region.
He announced in the Commons that China’s actions constituted a “clear and serious breach” of the treaty agreed between China and the UK in 1984 regarding the semi-autonomous city.
More than 144,000 people have since applied for the visa scheme.
The final act of Mr Raab’s tenure as foreign secretary arrived with the withdrawal of Western forces from Afghanistan in August 2021.
The country was plunged into chaos, with a resurgent Taliban capturing swathes of the nation as Joe Biden and US allies pulled out their troops.
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What’s life like under the Taliban?
Evacuation efforts – known as Operation Pitting – were beset by issues, including people waiting in sewers to get into Kabul airport, and hanging from the side of aeroplanes as they took off in an attempt to flee the Taliban.
It soon emerged that Mr Raab was on holiday in Crete, and he fought off calls to resign following reports he was rejecting phone calls while away.
He later said that with the “benefit of hindsight” he would have returned earlier.
Mr Raab was mocked for telling Sky News that he was not paddleboarding as “the sea was closed”.
By mid-September, Mr Johnson had reshuffled his government and Mr Raab was removed from the Foreign Office. He was made justice secretary and deputy prime minister.
Replacement of Boris Johnson
Amid swathes of Conservative government resignations and calls for Mr Johnson to step down as prime minister in mid-2022, Mr Raab remained in post as justice secretary.
After Mr Johnson announced his resignation, Mr Raab announced his support for Rishi Sunak and was one of his most vocal supporters.
When Liz Truss won the race to be prime minister, Mr Raab left the cabinet and spent the following weeks engaging on social media with constituency issues.
Once the Truss premiership collapsed, Mr Raab returned to government once again as justice secretary and deputy prime minister.
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Raab ‘ruined lives’ with behaviour
Bullying allegations and downfall
Soon after Mr Sunak entered Downing Street, allegations began to swirl about another one of his allies – Gavin Williamson.
Eventually, Mr Williamson offered his resignation, but the spotlight soon turned to Mr Raab.
In November 2022, Mr Raab requested an investigation into the bullying claims made against him – although he insisted at the time that he was “confident that I have behaved professionally throughout”.
Adam Tolley KC was charged with leading the investigation.
Now Mr Raab has left the government, he is facing the likelihood of losing his seat as an MP at the next general election.
It is a top Liberal Democrat target, and his majority of less than 2,000 is looking precarious with the current unpopularity of the Conservatives.
Scientists are turning detective to work out what British dolphins are up to beneath the waves – by using forensic-style DNA techniques on their poo.
Conservationists have been studying the 250 or so bottlenose dolphins living in Cardigan Bay, west Wales, over many decades.
Up to now, they have only been able to observe the dolphins as they surface to breathe or play, identifying the animals from the unique marks on their dorsal fins to establish which animals were hanging out together and where.
Dolphins in Cardigan Bay. Pic: Sarah Perry/WTSWW
But now for the first time scientists are using DNA excreted by the dolphins in their poo to build a more complete picture of their lives.
It allows them to identify the sex of individuals and how they are related to other animals. Signficantly, it also shows what the dolphins have been eating.
Dolphin poo. Pic: Sarah Perry/WTSWW
Dr Sarah Perry, marine conservation manager at The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales, said: “In order to be able to conserve them, we need to know why they’re here and a big a missing part of that is, what they’re feeding on.
“Is that changing at different times of the year? Are certain species of fish more important to them early on in the year, in the spring, and the summer months, and then does that change over the autumn and winter months?
“Are certain species important for younger animals? We don’t know that, so that kind of information, we need to find out.”
Dr Sarah Perry
Catching dolphin poo involves a large element of luck.
The animals occasionally eject a cloud of waste material as they swim.
But it quickly sinks, so the scientists’ boat needs to be close enough for them to scoop it out of the sea with a fine-meshed net.
A sample is then sent to a lab at the University of Aberystwyth, where DNA is extracted for analysis.
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Results so far suggest the dolphins are having to adapt to a change in fish species as the water warms.
Dr Niall McKeown
Dr Niall McKeown, a marine biologist at the university, said: “We are seeing large amounts of sardine, sprat, and anchovy.
“This is quite interesting because these are species that are known to have increased in abundance in Welsh waters in recent years in response, we believe, to climate change.”
Dr Niall analyses a sample
Scientists unsure why dolphin numbers are falling
But questions remain about the dolphins.
The number in Cardigan Bay seems to be falling, but scientists are not sure whether that’s a natural cycle or a response to other factors.
Boat noise and disturbance from some fishing activities, such as scallop dredging, could impact the animals, which rely on sound to communicate.
Dr Parry said: “How lucky are we to have such an important population of dolphins here? It’s crazy that we really don’t know that much about them.”
Sir Alan Bates has accused the government of presiding over a “quasi kangaroo court” for Post Office compensation.
Writing in The Sunday Times, the campaigner, who led a years-long effort for justice for sub-postmasters, revealed he had been given a “take it or leave it” offer that was less than half of his original claim.
“The sub-postmaster compensation schemes have been turned into quasi-kangaroo courts in which the Department for Business and Trade sits in judgement of the claims and alters the goal posts as and when it chooses,” he said.
“Claims are, and have been, knocked back on the basis that legally you would not be able to make them, or that the parameters of the scheme do not extend to certain items.”
More than 900 sub-postmasters were prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 after faulty Horizon accounting software made it look as if money was missing from their accounts.
Many are still waiting for compensation despite the previous government saying those who had their convictions quashed were eligible for £600,000 payouts.
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‘It still gives me nightmares’
After the Post Office terminated his contract over a false shortfall in 2003, Sir Alan began seeking out other sub-postmasters and eventually took the Post Office to court.
A group litigation order (GLO) scheme was set up to achieve redress for 555 claimants who took the Post Office to the High Court between 2017 and 2019.
Sir Alan, who was portrayed by actor Toby Jones in ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, has called for an independent body to be created to deliver compensation.
He added that promises the compensation schemes would be “non-legalistic” had turned out to be “worthless”.
It is understood around 80% of postmasters in Sir Alan’s group have accepted a full and final redress, or been paid most of their offer.
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Post Office scandal explained
Who are the key figures in the scandal?
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‘Lives were destroyed’
A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson told Sky News: “We pay tribute to all the postmasters who’ve suffered from this scandal, including Sir Alan for his tireless campaign for justice, and we have quadrupled the total amount paid to postmasters since entering government.
“We recognise there will be an absence of evidence given the length of time which has passed, and we therefore aim to give the benefit of the doubt to postmasters as far as possible.
“Anyone unhappy with their offer can have their case reviewed by a panel of experts, which is independent of the government.”
Sir Keir Starmer could decide to lift the two-child benefit cap in the autumn budget, amid further pressure from Nigel Farage to appeal to traditional Labour voters.
The Reform leader will use a speech this week to commit his party to scrapping the two-child cap, as well as reinstating winter fuel payments in full.
The prime minister – who took Westminster by surprise at PMQs by revealing his intention to row back on the winter fuel cut – has previously said he would like to lift the two-child cap if the government could afford it.
There are now mounting suggestions an easing of the controversial benefit restriction may be unveiled when the chancellor delivers the budget later this year.
According to The Observer, Sir Keir told cabinet ministers he wanted to axe the measure – and asked the Treasury to look for ways to fund the move.
It comes after the government delayed the release of its child poverty strategy, which is expected to recommend the divisive cap – introduced by former Tory chancellor George Osborne – is scrapped.
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Why did Labour delay their child poverty strategy?
Ministers have already said any changes to winter fuel payments, triggered by mounting political pressure, would only be made when the government’s next fiscal event rolls round.
The Financial Times reported it may be done by restoring the benefit to all pensioners, with the cash needed being clawed back from the wealthy through the tax system.
The payment was taken from more than 10 million pensioners this winter after it became means-tested, and its unpopularity was a big factor in Labour’s battering at recent elections.
Before Wednesday’s PMQs, the prime minister and chancellor had insisted there would be no U-turn.
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Will winter fuel U-turn happen?
Many Labour MPs have called for the government to do more to help the poorest in society, amid mounting concern over the impact of wider benefit reforms.
Former prime minister Gordon Brown this week told Sky News the two-child cap was “pretty discriminatory” and could be scrapped by raising money through a tax on the gambling industry.
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Brown questioned over winter fuel U-turn
Mr Farage, who believes Reform UK can win the next election, will this week accuse Sir Keir of being “out of touch with working people”.
In a speech first reported by The Sunday Telegraph, he is expected to say: “It’s going to be these very same working people that will vote Reform at the next election and kick Labour out of government.”
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