23 Apr OLIVER Dowden says the Government will continue to challenge civil servants
OLIVER Dowden says the Government will continue to challenge civil servants as he vowed to maintain “the highest possible standards” for the British people.
Speaking to GB News the new Deputy Prime Minister also twice refused to say whether he felt Dominic Raab was a bully.
He also paid tribute to the former Justice Secretary saying the country owed him a great debt following the job he’d done and that the Prime Minister still had “great affection” for him.
He told Camilla Tominey on GBNews: “My experience of working with Dominic Raab is that he is a man of his word and he said that if there was an adverse finding against him he would resign and the Prime Minister accepted that. That’s where we are now. The situation has been resolved in that way and I think we need to try and move on.”
Talking about the job Mr Raab did, Mr Dowden reflected on the period he stepped in when Boris Johnson was in hospital during the pandemic.
He said: “I remember getting the phone call. It was touch and go. Dom calmly and confidently took control when the country was in a very difficult position and, for that, we owe him a great debt of gratitude.”
Asked if he could ever return to Cabinet, Mr Dowden said that was a matter for Rishi Sunak adding: “The Prime Minister still holds him in great affection.”
Quizzed on Mr Raab’s comments about civil servants’ leaks, Mr Dowden said: “It is totally unacceptable if civil servants are leaking information. We need a clearer, simpler and fairer investigation system and we will be looking into this.”
And commenting on claims the civil service had too much control he continued: “Civil servants need to recognise they are there to serve the British people and we cannot allow a lowering of standards. And we need to be able to robustly challenge civil servants in an appropriate fashion. I am determined to maintain the highest possible standards.”
On the Government’s new alert system – which will be tested at 3pm today – Mr Dowden said very strict procedures were in place to protect security and that there “was a very high bar for usage”.
