The British government named Oliver Dowden Deputy Prime Minister on Friday, replacing Dominic Raab who resigned earlier in the day following a report into claims that he bullied colleagues.
According to a report by Reuters, Dowden currently serves as cabinet office minister in Sunak's government and was previously chairman of Sunak's Conservative Party but resigned from that post last June after two crushing by-election defeats for the party.
It is alleged that Raab while working as a Cabinet minister across different UK government departments bullied a number of staff members. Sunak had been handed the independent report into allegations made by several civil servants on Thursday and a decision on Raab was anticipated ever since. Raab held the portfolio of Ministry of Justice.
According to his website, Dowden was elected as a Conservative MP for Hertsmere in May 2015, which is his “home patch” where he was born and grew up. He still lives in the area with his wife and two children. He served in the Boris Johnson government as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General from 2019 to 2020 and Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 2020 to 2021.
Meanwhile, British lawmaker Alex Chalk will replace Dominic Raab as the new justice minister. He currently serves in the Ministry of Defence as Minister for Defence Procurement - a post he has held since Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister in October.
