Rishi Sunak has delayed determining the fate of Dominic Raab as Deputy Prime Minister despite promises to “swiftly” consider the findings of an official bullying inquiry.
The Prime Minister received the report into Mr Raab’s behaviour towards junior colleagues on Thursday morning but the PA news agency understands a decision will not be made until Friday at the earliest.
Mr Sunak was accused of “dither and delay” by his political opponents as he put off revealing his conclusion over the fate of his ally after spending hours with the findings.
His previous expression of having “full confidence” in Mr Raab “still stands”, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said after the findings of Adam Tolley KC were received at Downing Street.
The spokesman said Mr Sunak was “carefully considering the findings of the report before coming to a judgment”.
But those considerations dragged into Thursday evening, and No 10 could not say whether the report and the Prime Minister’s verdict would even be published on Friday.
Liberal Democrat chief whip Wendy Chamberlain 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 in 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.”
Related: UK slips down rankings of the world’s-biggest exporters
