Brexiteer Dominic Raab becomes new Brexit Secretary after David Davis resigns
BREXITEER Dominic Raab is the new Brexit Secretary, Theresa May has announced today.
The Housing minister and Brexiteer, 44, steps up to fill the vacant role left last night when Mr Davis dramatically quit, plunging the Government into chaos.
Mr Raab played a prominent role in the Leave campaign, and previously served as a Justice minister too.
Before he went into politics he was a lawyer, working on EU and World Trade Organisation Law, making him a good fit for the crucial role, which he takes up just eight months away from our official departure from the bloc.
The dad-of-two got into hot water earlier this year though when his aide was caught selling sex on a 'Sugar Daddy' site and joked about romping on her boss's desk.
Despite this, Theresa May has appointed him to one of the top jobs in Government today, and the move has been welcomed by other Leave-backing MPs.
The Prime Minister's spokesperson said he was an "excellent" minister and she was looking forward to working with him to deliver Brexit.
But Labour MPs were today circulating a blog-post he wrote back in 2011 where he called for an end to "feminist bigotry" and said that men were getting a raw deal after new equality legislation.
Mr Rabb was later on joined in the Brexit department by fellow leaver, Daventry MP Chris Heaton-Harris.
Latest updates on Theresa May's political crisis:
- Last night David Davis dramatically quit as Brexit Secretary - and said it was because he no longer believed in the PM's plans
- Other Brexiteer ministers including Boris Johnson are under pressure to quit, potentially bringing down the PM
- Pro-Leave MPs vowed to bring a formal challenge against Theresa May
- Labour called on the PM to resign due to the swirling chaos
Who is Dominic Raab, the new Brexit Secretary?
By Alain Tolhurst
The ardent Brexiteer has long been tipped for a senior Cabinet role, after becoming the MP for Esher and Walton in Surrey in 2010 - but his appointment came as a shock to Westminster today.
Others including Michael Gove and Liam Fox were being tipped for the top job.
Mr Raab became a junior minister after the 2015 election, but was shuffled out of Government when Theresa May took over a year later.
But the Prime Minister brought him back into Government in June 2017, when he became the minister of state for courts and justice.
In January he was appointed as Housing Minister.
The former lawyer began his political career at the Foreign Office in 2000, and led the British team at The Hague dedicated to bringing war criminals to justice.
He also advised on the Arab-Israeli Conflict, the EU and Gibraltar, before being hired by David Davis – the man he has today replaced – in 2006.
Mr Raab worked as his chief of staff while he served as shadow Home Secretary, until he was elected to Parliament.
Born to a Czech-born Jewish father, who came to Britain in 1938 as a refugee, he studied law at Oxford and then Cambridge before becoming a solicitor.
He is married to Erika Rey, a Brazilian marketing executive live in Thames Ditton in Surrey.
But Westminster watchers were most intrigued by the claim to an undercover reporter that the minister eats the exact same lunch everyday from Pret a Manger.
After being mocked for always ordering the exact same thing – a chicken caesar and bacon baguette, a superfruit salad and a watermelon smoothie then dubbed ‘the “Dom Raab special” - he denied that was case, saying: “It’s not true.”
MOST READ IN POLITICS
Keir Starmer MP, Labour’s Shadow Brexit Secretary, commenting on the appointment of Dominic Raab as Brexit Secretary, said:
“Dominic Raab’s appointment to the Brexit Department changes nothing.
“The deep division at the heart of the Conservative Party has broken out in public and plunged this Government into crisis.
“It is now clearer than ever that Theresa May does not have the authority to negotiate for Britain or deliver a Brexit deal that protects jobs and the economy.”
Mr Raab was once slammed byTheresa May for calling feminists “obnoxious bigots”.
He became an MP in 2010 and his talent turned heads as much as his feminist outburst a year later when he said men should burn their briefs in protest at being marginalised.
- GOT a story? RING The Sun on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or EMAIL [email protected]