Raab's furious exit offers little respite to mandarins

Bullying report forced the deputy prime minister's hand, but tensions between the government and civil servants are high

- Toby Helm and Michael Savage

If there is one impression that Rishi Sunak wants to convey about his premiership, after the chaotic Boris Johnson years and the wild 49 days of Liz Truss, it is one of calm competence.

So it was that the prime minister took a full day to study the report on bullying allegations against his deputy, written by Adam Tolley KC, before picking up the phone to Dominic Raab last Friday morning. Sunak had promised on his first day in office to lead a government of "integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level", so any bullying claims made by civil servants against Raab, if upheld, could not be tolerated.

But the PM also knew he owed Raab, a close ally who had stuck his neck out to support Sunak's leadership campaign, a favour or two. And he was worried about allowing the civil service - full of liberal remainer lefties, in the eyes of many Tory MPs too obvious a victory over a pro-Brexit minister and government.