Tory colleague confirms 'disagreement' with 'robust' Dominic Raab

One of Dominic Raab's colleagues has confirmed he had “a disagreement” with the "robust" politician when they were both in the cabinet.

An unnamed ally of Robert Buckland reportedly told the Times that after Buckland criticised Raab's plan for a British bill of rights, Raab had a “very odd, very punchy” reaction.

Another source told the paper Buckland told prime minister Rishi Sunak about the incident, which reportedly took place in August during the final weeks of Boris Johnson’s government.

Questioned on LBC on Monday morning about the report, Buckland did not deny that Raab had told him he would have to be sacked or resign if an article he wrote criticising the bill of rights was published as it breached collective cabinet responsibility.

“I don’t want to rake back through the coals of what happened last summer,” said Buckland.

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“Dominic and I have a disagreement about his bill of rights, clearly he wasn’t going to agree with the article that I did write in the Telegraph. I was talking about the government to come – that is the government post-Boris Johnson – and felt that it was entirely appropriate to do that.

“There are robust disagreements in politics. I’m old enough and ugly enough to hold my own corner, and Dominic is known for his robustness as well. There was a disagreement, but we’ve moved on.”

It comes as Raab is being investigated over 24 allegations of bullying and intimidating behaviour, which he has denied.

A source close to Raab told the Times he had always acted professionally.

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