Angela Rayner says staff were afraid to enter Dominic Raab’s office amid bullying allegations – UK politics live

Rayner says staff were afraid to enter Dominic Raab’s office

Rayner says Raab had to call for an inquiry into himself because Rishi Sunak was too weak to get a grip. She says Raab’s behaviour was called demeaning. Staff were afraid to enter his office. And that is without mentioning the flying tomatoes. So why he is still here?

Raab says Rayner has not put a specific point to him. If she does, he will address it, he says.

Updated at 07.48 EST

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No 10 says independent investigator to be appointed to examine Raab allegations

Downing Street says it will appoint an “independent” investigator to examine the complaints about Dominic Raab, a No 10 spokesperson said at the post-PMQs lobby briefing. My colleague Pippa Crerar has the details.

Downing Street is appointing an independent investigator because No 10 does not have an ethics adviser (see 11.13am) in post. It says it is seeking to appoint one soon, but Rishi Sunak clearly decided he could not afford to wait until the appointment gets made.

PMQs – snap verdict

Angela Rayner is a more powerful deputy to Keir Starmer than Dominic Raab is to Rishi Sunak (because she was elected, and so she has a mandate, and because her career is still on the up), and in their past encounters at PMQs she normally came out best, but she didn’t today. She felt she had devote half her questions to bullying-gate, but she had not prepared an effective line of attack, and Raab emerged unscathed.

That is because there is nothing more dangerous for an opposition than getting its way. Rayner has issued three press released about the Raab allegations in recent days, and the final one, sent on Monday, concluded with Rayner saying: “An independent investigation into Dominic Raab must urgently be launched.” This morning, about an hour before PMQs (see 10.54am), she got what she wanted. She won. At that point she had three options for PMQs.

First, she could have welcomed the inquiry, and focused on something else. The point about the UK being forecast to come 38th out of 38 in the OECD growth forecasts for next year was a good one (and Rayner’s line, “if there was a world cup for growth, we would not even qualify”, was excellent), but this hit will be forgotten because of the final three questions on Raab.

Second, Rayner could have found a fresh, and viable attack line on bullying-gate. To her credit, Rayner did manage this when she turned her guns on Sunak.

Let me get this straight. He has had to demand an investigation into himself because the prime minister is too weak to get a grip.

If she had hammered away at this point, it would have worked.

But instead, Rayner devoted much of her final three questions to just clobbering Raab for being a bully, and this is where it went wrong. She insisted he should apologise. And then at one point she even suggested he should just resign. “The deputy prime minister knows his behaviour is unacceptable. So what’s he still doing here?” But if you call for an inquiry into bullying allegations, you should feel obliged to await its outcome before demanding apologies and resignations. Keir Starmer, a stickler for process, would take that view, and it is unlikely that he would have called for Raab’s resignation if he had been taking PMQs today. Rayner pushed it too far, and as a result, Raab emerged with more credit than he may deserve.

(Incidentally, the claim from Raab that he “behaved professionally throughout” is interesting. See 12.04pm. That is not the same as saying he treated staff well.)

Usually the key exchanges provide the most interesting takeaway from PMQs, but the most significant question to Raab today was probably Esther McVey’s. (See 12.37pm.) If Tory MPs like her are already threatening not to vote for any autumn statement tax rises unless various demands are met (in her case, the scrapping of HS2), then Sunak has a mighty party management problem on his hands.

Updated at 08.28 EST

Simon Hoare (Con) says standards are important. But is he naive to still believe in the great British tradition that you are innocent until proven guilty?

Raab says it is important that they have zero tolerance of bullying and uphold the highest standards in public life.

And that’s it. PMQs is over.

Former Tory minister Esther McVey says she will not back any autumn statement tax rises unless HS2 scrapped

Esther McVey (Con) says the government’s problems are caused by over-spending, not under-taxing. She says if the government has enough money for HS2, it should not be raising taxes. She says the government should not asks Tory MPs to support any tax rises “unless this unnecessary vanity project is scrapped”. She would not support them without HS2 being scrapped, she says.

Raab says the government has difficult decisions to take.

Updated at 08.39 EST

Lee Anderson (Con) asks if Raab will support Suella Braverman in the face of the “bully boys” trying to force her to resign.

Raab says he does support the home secretary.

Anum Qaisar (SNP) says it is the Tories that are to blame for the country’s economic and social problems. When will they accept responsiblity?

Raab says the government is working in partnership to address problems. And he says inflation-busting pay rises will lead to inflation staying high for longer, which will hurt the most vulnerable people.

Updated at 07.37 EST

Peter Bone (Con) asks if a potential returns policy was discussed when Rishi Sunak spoke to the French president about the small boats deal.

Raab says he cannot say, because he has not seen the readout of the meeting.

Judith Cummins (Lab) asks if the government is committed to including a stop at Bradford in its Northern Powerhouse Rail plans.

Raab says the government’s plans will be set out soon.

Rebecca Long-Bailey (Lab) and Sir John Hayes (Con) both ask about support for veterans of Britain’s nuclear tests.

Raab says officials have been asked to look again at the case for giving them a medal.

Jacob Rees-Mogg (Con) says Labour has a poor record on bullying. He says the party is “hypercritical”, implying it is also being hypocritical (a word deemed unparliamentary when used of opponents).

Raab says Rees-Mogg has made his point in his usual inimitable way. He says everyone should take responsibility for their actions.

Updated at 07.32 EST

Raab confirms he was involved in an employment dispute, resolved with confidentiality clause, before he became MP

Bambos Charalambous (Lab) asks if Raab has ever entered a non-disclosure agreement in relation to a complaint against him.

Raab says this is a reference to an employment dispute that he had before he became an MP. It was not an NDA (non-disclosure agreement), but it did include a confidentiality clause, as was standard at the time

Updated at 07.34 EST