Dominic Raab ‘has read Tolley’s report and will not be resigning’
The Guardian’s Aubrey Allegretti has tweeted that Raab continues to deny any wrongdoing.
Raab has read the report by Adam Tolley.
I’m told there’s no change in his position that he’s denies wrongdoing and instead believes he’s behaved professionally throughout his political career.
— Aubrey Allegretti (@breeallegretti) April 20, 2023
ITV’s Robert Peston has also tweeted this in the past few minutes.
Dominic Raab has read Tolley’s report into his alleged bullying and – as I understand it – he believes it does not show he breached the Ministerial Code, and therefore he will not be offering his resignation. Which means the PM has to decide whether to sack him
— Robert Peston (@Peston) April 20, 2023
Key events
On the report’s possible findings, ITV’s Lucy McDaid has tweeted this.
On the Dominic Raab bullying report not being published today, former foreign office official tells me they ‘didn’t have high hopes anyway’ but any hopes of Raab being sacked have been ‘obliterated’
— Lucy McDaid (@LucyJMcDaid) April 20, 2023
More than 43,000 people were declared dead by the time an ambulance arrived last year, according to statistics given to the Liberal Democrats.
The data, revealed following freedom of information (FOI) requests sent by the party to ambulance trusts in England, suggests an average of 120 people died per day before an ambulance reached them in 2022.
For the past three years, the figures suggest the number of people who have died before an emergency services team reached them has stood at more than 43,000, indicating an annual trend.
The Lib Dems said the statistics were “truly shocking” and blamed “a Conservative government starving the NHS of the resources it needs”.
But the Department of Health and Social Care said it was “misleading” to imply a link between deaths and ambulance waiting times.
Officials at the department also pointed out that the annual headline figure had “not significantly changed over the three-year period”.
The foreign secretary has defied the Tory right by arguing that the UK should remain a signatory of the European convention on human rights (ECHR), as Rishi Sunak caves to demands from hard-right MPs to ignore European court rulings on small boats, write Pippa Crerar and Rajeev Syal.
James Cleverly said he was “not convinced” that leaving the ECHR was necessary to ensure the immigration system was robust, and that the UK had the clout to push for changes if needed, prompting speculation he may be uncomfortable with the move.
The development comes as the government prepares to propose safe and legal routes for refugees to come to the UK next year, in a move meant to placate the party’s left.
The shadow attorney general, Emily Thornberry, accused Rishi Sunak of lacking the courage to sack Dominic Raab as deputy prime minister.
The Labour MP told the PA Media news agency: “I think it’s another example of Conservative chaos and not addressing the problems of the country.
“He’s going to spend tonight looking at the report and trying to summon up the courage to work out whether he should sack his deputy or not, when really what he should be doing is focusing on a cost of living crisis.
“He’s got the report, read the report; if he’s a bully, sack him.”
Asked whether Sunak should take time to consider the findings, Thornberry responded: “A bully is a bully.”
The education secretary is to meet the family of the headteacher Ruth Perry, who they say killed herself while awaiting an Ofsted report.
It comes after Matt Rodda, Perry’s MP, asked Gillian Keegan in the Commons on Monday to meet Perry’s family and local headteachers to discuss her death.
The family of Perry, who headed Caversham primary school in Reading, have said she killed herself in January while awaiting an Ofsted report which downgraded her school from the highest rating to the lowest.
Angela Rayner accuses PM of ‘dithering’ over decision on Raab’s future
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said: “While the prime minister dithers and delays, trying to summon up the guts to sack his own deputy, working people are battling the worst cost of living crisis for a generation – food bills and mortgage rates are rising, wages are stagnating, and too many of us are waiting months and even years for health treatment.
“While the Tories are yet again mired in chaos, Labour is focused on cutting the cost of living, cutting crime, and cutting waiting lists with our long-term plan to give Britain its future back.”
Dominic Raab ‘has read Tolley’s report and will not be resigning’
The Guardian’s Aubrey Allegretti has tweeted that Raab continues to deny any wrongdoing.
Raab has read the report by Adam Tolley.
I’m told there’s no change in his position that he’s denies wrongdoing and instead believes he’s behaved professionally throughout his political career.
— Aubrey Allegretti (@breeallegretti) April 20, 2023
ITV’s Robert Peston has also tweeted this in the past few minutes.
Dominic Raab has read Tolley’s report into his alleged bullying and – as I understand it – he believes it does not show he breached the Ministerial Code, and therefore he will not be offering his resignation. Which means the PM has to decide whether to sack him
— Robert Peston (@Peston) April 20, 2023
A peer has been found to have broken the code of conduct after failing to properly declare her role in a not-for-profit company.
Lady Caroline Cox has agreed to apologise to the House of Lords after an investigation by the standards commissioner.
The peer had claimed her failure to register her directorship of Equal and Free Ltd was “inadvertent”, citing her “massive commitment to humanitarian aid and advocacy” combined with little administrative support in her duties.
But the commissioner found these reasons to be insufficient, concluding: “Considering Baroness Cox’s otherwise diligent approach to registering and declaring her interests during the period in question, I do not consider the reasons she provided for not registering and declaring her interests in Equal and Free Ltd to be sufficient.”
In a letter to the commissioner, Cox offered her “profound apologies” and said she “never personally received funds from Equal and Free Ltd”.
But she acknowledged she had benefited from the support of part-time researchers employed by the company.
Equal and Free describes itself on its website as “UK-based network of academics, parliamentarians, lawyers and women’s groups” who “champion the rights of British Muslim women who do not (yet) have the protection of legal marriage”.
The reasons behind the delay of the Raab report are unclear, but a source told the PA news agency that Sunak was “taking time to go through the report thoroughly”.
A No 10 spokesman indicated Sunak and his deputy had held talks.
Asked if the PM had spoken to Raab, the spokesman said: “I’m not going to get into private conversations while the process is ongoing.”
Raab was investigated over eight formal complaints about his behaviour as foreign secretary, Brexit secretary and during his first stint as justice secretary.
Downing Street had declined throughout the day to indicate when the report will be published but insisted a resolution will be sought “as swiftly as possible”.
The general secretary of the FDA civil service union has criticised the process of deciding the fate of Dominic Raab.
Dave Penman tweeted: “Can you imagine being a civil servant who has raised a complaint, sitting in the department that Dominic Raab is the secretary of state for, watching TV to find out your fate?
“This whole process is a farce. We need serious reform of the way ministerial bullying is dealt with.”
Andrew Sparrow
According to the BBC’s Chris Mason, allies of the civil servants who complained about Dominic Raab are furious that no decision is being taken today about his future. On the BBC’s live blog, Mason reports.
Those representing the complainants are livid: many of them are in the Ministry of Justice, watching rolling news, knowing the deputy prime minister knows who they are.
That’s all from me for today. My colleague Nadeem Badshah is taking over now.
Sunak accused of ‘dither and delay’ after decision about Raab’s fate postponed at least until tomorrow
The Liberal Democrats have accused Rishi Sunak of “dither and delay”. In a statement on Dominic Raab, Wendy Chamberlain, the party’s chief whip, said:
People will be fed up with this dither and delay from Rishi Sunak. It feels like almost every week there is an issue with sleaze and scandal where Rishi Sunak is either implicated himself or too weak to get to grips with it. People are crying out for a government that will just get on with tackling the issues that matter, not focused on saving their own skin.
