Dominic Raab should be suspended while the probe into multiple bullying allegations against him goes on, a former Tory chairman has said.
Jake Berry said it would be “very bizarre” is someone in any other workplace facing similar complaints was able to carry on in their job.
His comments, to Radio Four’s Week In Westminster programme, pile further pressure on Rishi Sunak over his handling of the situation.
Raab, the deputy prime minister and justice secretary, faces eight separate complaints from dozens of civil servants he worked with at three Whitehall departments over a number of years.
Leading lawyer Adam Tolley KC has been conducting an independent investigation into the allegations since November.
Sunak has resisted calls for Raab to be sacked, insisting he will wait until Tolley produces his findings before deciding what course of action to take.
But Berry, who was sacked as Conservative chairman when Sunak became PM, said: “It would be very bizarre if you had someone in any other workplace who wasn’t suspended pending that investigation.
“MPs and ministers are not some form of special human being - I think they should just be treated like anyone else is in their workplace.”
He added: “We have a system in parliament that you’re either in a job or you’re not in a job
“The way these sort of complaints would be dealt with in the private sector is you would be suspended while they were investigated.”
Sunak has insisted he was not aware of any “formal complaints” against Raab before making him deputy prime minister in October.
However, it was reported yesterday that cabinet secretary Simon Case was personally informed of a written complaint about bullying against Raab months before his re-appointment as justice secretary.
Meanwhile, Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union, which represents senior civil servants, said some officials had lost their careers and suffered “mental health crisis” as a result of their dealings with Raab
The deputy prime minister denies the allegations against him.