The Diplomat in Spain

The Diplomat

The former British minister Dominic Raab, who left the government on Friday after being accused of harassment at work, removed the UK ambassador to Spain, Hugh Elliot, from the Gibraltar negotiations during his time at the Foreign Office after he allegedly crossed the lines set by London with his proposals, according to sources quoted by the ‘Daily Telegraph’.

The newspaper, which already published a column on Friday in which Raab defended all his behaviour, throws new details on one of the most delicate points of the ex-minister’s curriculum, who has acknowledged that among the matters under investigation were alleged excesses in the months leading up to the agreement that set the framework for Gibraltar after Brexit at the end of 2020.

Raab admitted that a “senior diplomat” had overstepped the mark and made “personnel changes” at a key moment in the negotiations with Spain. “I found that a key negotiator had overstepped the democratic mandate set by the government, putting the UK’s sovereignty at risk,” he said in his grandstand.

According to the Telegraph’s account, drawn from people in Raab’s entourage and the formal investigation, the then Foreign Minister was aware of an alleged offer regarding the Spanish presence in Gibraltar. Spain, as the gateway to the Schengen area, has always argued that there should be police, in principle accompanied by the European agency Frontex.

Raab summoned Elliot in November 2020, for a meeting that would have been key to the subsequent complaint. The ambassador remained in his post – he is still the UK’s diplomatic representative in Spain – but was removed from the negotiations, which were joined by Simon Manley, the former ambassador in Madrid.

The changes also affected the Foreign Office, with a new person in charge of the office directly overseeing the Gibraltar talks.

The investigation into Raab following the allegations finds excessive behaviour that would even have amounted to humiliation for the official, whom the official document does not identify in any way. It also sees it as a “threat” that the ex-minister might at a later date consider resorting to the Civil Service Code as a punishment.

On tendering his resignation, in his public letter to the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, Raab stressed that a senior official must be able to be critical of his subordinates and exercise “direct supervision” when there are relevant situations, as happened in his case “in the Brexit negotiations on Gibraltar, when a senior diplomat broke the mandate agreed by the Cabinet”.

Despite the controversy, the former minister did clarify that the changes introduced did not involve long-term damage and, in fact, he considers that it was “essential” for the so-called New Year’s Eve Agreement to be signed, which on 31 December 2020 established a first regulatory framework around Gibraltar just hours before the Brexit deadline expired.

A British Embassy spokesperson consulted by The Diplomat said it had no comment to make on the information.