Dominic Raab bullied civil servants with ‘persistently aggressive’ behaviour - but took £16,000 pay-off

The former Tory deputy prime minister, an ally of Boris Johnson, resigned in the wake of a probe into his behaviour

Dominic Raab took a £16,000 pay off after he quit government following a finding he had been “persistently aggressive” towards civil servants.

An independent investigation found the Boris Johnson ally had made what “could have been understood as a threat” and had “acted in a way which was intimidating”.

In response, Mr Raab, who denied the allegations, resigned with a defiant attack on the bullying probe – and, it now emerges, a severance package that ran into thousands of pounds.

Dominic Raab resigned in the wake of the bullying probe (REUTERS)

The payment of £16,876 is revealed in the Ministry of Justice’s annual report.

Mr Raab had promised to stand down if he was found guilty of bullying.

But in an unexpected move he hit out at the inquiry process, claiming he had been subjected to a “Kafkaesque saga” that would damage the government, with a “flawed” report which had set a “low” threshold for what should be regarded as bullying

In an extraordinary development, he also accused “activist” civil servants of trying to block reforms such as Brexit.

The report found that Mr Raab had “acted in a way which was intimidating, in the sense of unreasonably and persistently aggressive conduct in the context of a work meeting”.

In one instance, his conduct was seen as “undermining or humiliating” by the complainant. “It is to be inferred that (Mr Raab) was aware that this would be the effect of his conduct; at the very least, he should have been aware,” the report said, adding later: “On a number of occasions of meetings with policy officials ... the DPM acted in a manner which was intimidating.”

Mr Raab had been under investigation over eight formal complaints about his behaviour when he was foreign secretary, Brexit secretary, and during his first stint as justice secretary.

Before his resignation, senior officials at the Ministry of Justice were said to be preparing to quit if Mr Raab was allowed to stay on.

Mr Raab has been approached for comment.