Justice Secretary Dominic Raab has instructed Sky News he would resign from the cupboard if bullying claims in opposition to him are upheld.
The deputy prime minister is being investigated by senior lawyer Adam Tolley KC over a string of formal complaints by civil servants about his conduct.
Speaking to the Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, Mr Raab restated he had “behaved professionally throughout” and identified he had referred to as for an inquiry himself when the accusations had been first made.
Asked whether or not he would give up if a criticism was upheld, the cupboard minister initially refused to be drawn and mentioned he was “not going to start speculating on what the outcome might be” and that it was a “hypothetical question”.
But when pressed additional, he mentioned: “Look, if an allegation of bullying is upheld, I will resign.”
Mr Raab additionally dismissed requires him to face apart whereas the investigation is carried out and argued it was “ultimately for the prime minister to decide”.
He added: “But I feel really simply by lodging complaints you’ll be able to knock out a cupboard minister or a senior determine, I’m undecided that is proper.
“We believe in innocent until proven guilty in this country and look, I’ll cooperate fully with the inquiry and I’ll respect the outcome of that.”
He went on: “If you believe in innocent until proven guilty, you wouldn’t want to penalise people until you have got the outcome and I can see why that would politicise the process of lodging complaints because you can effectively, for months on end, remove cabinet members or other leading political figures.”
Speaking to the BBC later, Mr Raab once more defended his behaviour however mentioned he had realized classes from his dealings with civil servants.
He mentioned: “I think the lion’s share of the time, the vast majority of cases and the time we spend together, civil servants and ministers work very effectively together.”
Read extra: The 5 days of allegations in opposition to the deputy PM
On whether or not there ought to be “more plain speaking in politics”, he mentioned: “Yes, absolutely.
“What we want, and I feel this may be reconciled completely with having a zero tolerance on bullying, you want ministers who are available in and accurately however immediately problem assumptions, check concepts – that’s the manner we get the very best out of presidency.”
But Dave Penman, general secretary of the public services union, the FDA, told the BBC civil servants “do not have the boldness” to problem bullying or harassment by senior figures in Whitehall.
Source: information.sky.com”