London: After an independent investigation revealed that Dominic Raab had intimidated civil servants, the UK deputy prime minister resigned on Friday.

Raab made his announcement the day after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak learned the results of eight formal complaints that he had been abusive to staff members while working as Britain's foreign secretary, Brexit secretary, and justice secretary. Raab is also the justice secretary.

The 49-year-old Raab denied allegations that he bullied his employees and maintained that he "behaved professionally at all times," but he had previously stated that he would resign if the allegations were confirmed.

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Raab claimed in his resignation letter that the investigation had found two instances of bullying against him and had rejected the others. The investigation "set a dangerous precedent" by "setting the threshold for bullying so low," he claimed, calling the conclusions "flawed."

He claimed that since he had made a commitment to do so, he was "duty bound" to step down. Sunak is spared from having to decide the future of his top deputy thanks to the resignation.

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According to spokesman Max Blain, Sunak was carefully considering the findings after receiving the investigation report on Thursday morning.

Sunak was faced with a difficult decision: fire Raab and risk facing criticism for hiring him in the first place, or keep him on the job and risk facing criticism for failing to carry out his campaign pledge to bring back integrity to the Conservative government.

The report is Sunak's most recent ethical headache. After three years of instability under predecessors Liz Truss and Boris Johnson, Sunak vowed to bring order and integrity back to government. 

Johnson was removed from office in the summer of 2022 due to a number of scandals, and Truss resigned in October after only six weeks because her tax-cutting economic plans caused havoc on the financial markets.

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However, Sunak has found it difficult to refute claims from the opposition that the Conservative government is still mired in scandal and sleaze.

After being elected to the House of Commons in 2010, Raab ran unsuccessfully for Conservative Party leader in 2019 before endorsing Johnson. Johnson appointed him deputy prime minister, and when Johnson was hospitalised in April 2020 with Covid-19, he briefly assumed that position.