Dominic Raab received a near-£17,000 ministerial payout on resigning as justice secretary in 2023 after an official report found he had acted in an “intimidating” manner towards civil servants, newly published accounts have shown.
Raab, who opted to not contest his Esher and Walton seat in Surrey in the general election, was paid £16,876 as “compensation for loss of office”, the 2023-24 annual report for the Ministry of Justice showed.
The Liberal Democrats, who won Esher and Walton in July, have called on Raab to pay the money back, given the circumstances under which he received it.
Under rules on payouts, which Labour has pledged to change, ministers who lose their jobs for whatever reason are entitled to a quarter of their annual salary, however long they were in the post. This is repaid only if they get another ministerial role within three weeks.
Raab stepped down as justice secretary and Rishi Sunak’s deputy prime minister in April 2023 after an investigation by a leading employment barrister said he had on a number of occasions “gone further” than appropriate in delivering critical feedback and been insulting about work done by officials.
The report said while Raab did not intend to upset or humiliate officials, they found him “unreasonably difficult to deal with”, as he was sometimes “abrasive”.
Raab had faced multiple formal complaints over his dealings with civil servants, including claims, first revealed by the Guardian, that he bullied and belittled staff.
In his resignation letter, Raab said while he was keeping his word to quit if the report found against him, he believed the findings set a dangerous precedent by placing the threshold for bullying too low.
The Ministry of Justice accounts show that Raab also received £9,043 as a severance payment in 2022 after his first stint as justice secretary ended when Liz Truss, then prime minister, replaced him with Brandon Lewis.
After Truss was forced out, Raab returned to the role, but this was longer than three weeks so he was entitled to keep the money.
Labour has promised to reduce payouts to shorter-serving ministers – they will receive a quarter of what they were actually paid over the past year, not potential earnings – and to suspend payments to ministers under investigation for misconduct, with the money blocked if a complaint was upheld.
A Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: “Voters in Esher and Walton and right across the country voted for change. People were fed up with the Conservative party who were mired in sleaze. Dominic Raab should pay back his payout, given his behaviour in office.”
Raab was contacted for comment.
