Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has resigned after an investigation into accusations he bullied his staff. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, after accepting Raab’s resignation, praised the work done by the deputy prime minister during his time in the government. Oliver Dowden has been appointed deputy prime minister in Raab’s place. Downing Street confirmed this appointment, adding that he will also remain the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Also, Alex Chalk has been confirmed as the new justice secretary to replace Raab. Chalk is the Conservative MP for Cheltenham, a seat he has held since 2015. Since October last year he has been minister of state for defense procurement and before that the prisons minister. Before becoming an MP, Chalk worked as a barrister specializing in counter-terrorism, homicide and serious fraud cases. Chalk is a former Winchester College pupil, the same independent boarding school Sunak attended. In a letter posted on Twitter, Raab revealed that an investigation into his conduct had upheld two claims against him — but he branded the process “flawed” and said it set “a dangerous precedent for the conduct of good government.” Raab’s resignation came a day after Sunak received the findings of the investigation, which levelled eight formal complaints at Raab, who represents a constituency in the southeast of England. The complaints said that Raab had been abusive towards staff during a stint as justice secretary, and also while service as foreign minister and Brexit secretary. Raab, 49, denied claims he belittled and demeaned his staff and said he “behaved professionally at all times,” but had said he would resign if the bullying complaints were upheld. Some of the allegations which leaked to the British press claimed that Raab had created a culture of fear in various government departments, with one newspaper reporting he threw tomatoes from his salad at staff. Raab said he had “not once, in four and a half years, sworn or shouted at anyone, let alone thrown anything or otherwise physically intimidated anyone, nor intentionally sought to belittle anyone,” but did apologize for any “unintended stress or offense” that officials felt. Meanwhile, the prime minister’s spokesman said Sunak has asked the Cabinet Office to look at “how we can better learn to handle some of the issues that this report’s raised”. He says this is around “how concerns about working practices are raised in a timely manner and how they are dealt with”. The spokesman said this was in the interests of both civil servants and ministers. Labour leader Keir Starmer, responding to Raab’s resignation, said, it shows the “continual weakness” of Rishi Sunak. Speaking to reporters at a hospital in North Yorkshire, he said Raab should never have been appointed in the first place and that the prime minister should have sacked him now instead of letting him resign. Starmer said the next generation of NHS staff want to talk about their futures, but “here we are talking about weakness at the top of the Tory party”. He added that “no matter how many times you change the person at the top”, the Conservatives are a party that “just can’t deliver” or govern. Moving his attack to the state of the country, he asks: “Why on earth isn’t the government laser focused on the cost of living crisis and NHS?” — Agencies