Gibraltar has cost former British Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Dominic Raab his job, who became furious with the UK's current ambassador to Spain, Hugh Elliot, for probing the possibility of Spanish police staying stationed on the Rock permanently as a formula for the border to remain open after Brexit.
The incident, according to The Daily Telegraph newspaper, occurred in November 2020 as a result of Britain's exit from the EU and the need to keep open a border crossing through which thousands of people travel every day they will work on one side and on the other side of the grid. Raab heard whispers or rumors that the ambassador in Madrid had raised (or considered at the behest of his interlocutors in the ad hoc negotiations) the permanent presence of Spanish police in Gibraltar, which was contrary to official Foreign Office policy. He was enraged and had - always according to The Telegraph's version - that Elliot travel to London to reprimand him and demand an explanation. A similar concession could have validated, in his opinion, the Spanish claim to sovereignty.
The conversation must have been very heated, although its exact terms have not been revealed. Elliot – who according to The Telegraph was vague in his answers – has remained as ambassador to Spain, but Raab, who was then head of the Foreign Office, was extraordinarily harsh and punitive with him, both in substance as in form, and withdrew him from the negotiations over Gibraltar. In the end, a formula was found to keep the border open that did not involve the permanent presence of Spanish police.
The treatment of Hugh Elliot is one of two instances – out of a total of twenty accusations – that the investigation into the conduct of the former Minister of Justice concluded constituted harassment. Numerous civil servants and subordinates have accused him of vexatious behavior that has caused them stress, anxiety and mental health problems, or forced them to ask for leave. The final report censures Raab for having been unnecessarily aggressive, humiliating and intimidating, to the point of constituting an abuse of power, which went well beyond what is necessary for a ministry to function. But he, defiant, replied that "people are too thin-skinned", and "there are those who boycott the Government's decisions to impose their own agenda, but no one has elected them".
Raab claims he didn't try to hurt anyone. The report proves him, to a certain extent and with irony, to be right. His offenses were directed not at anyone in particular, but at everyone. They were not the exception, but the norm, and he was very unpleasant as a boss. Even Boris Johnson, who had a very lax code of ethics, gave him a thumbs up, but decided to keep him in office.
