DOMINIC Raab is back in the cabinet as Boris Johnson’s new Foreign Secretary.
The staunch Brexiteer made a bid for PM but has ended up with another top government job. Here’s what we know about the smooth-talking right-winger.
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Who is Dominic Raab?
Raab is the son of a Czech-born Jewish father who came to Britain in 1938 to escape Nazi Germany.
Due to his mother he was raised in the Church of England.
The 45-year-old studied law at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford and won the Clive Parry Prize for international law.
He then did a master’s degree at Jesus College, Cambridge.
Raab started his working life at Linklaters in London and qualified as a solicitor in 2000.
He then joined the Foreign Office where he advised on a number of areas including the Arab-Israeli conflict, the EU and Gibraltar.
Between 2006 and 2010 he worked in Parliament as Chief of Staff to David Davis and Dominic Grieve.
He was elected to Parliament in the 2010 election where he represented Esher and Walton, a safe Conservative seat in Surrey.
After Davis resigned as the Brexit Secretary on July 9, 2018, Raab took up the post.
But he didn’t last long in the job, resigning on November 15, 2018, after disagreeing with the draft Brexit withdrawal agreement.
Raab entered the Tory leadership race but was eliminated in the second round, then throwing his support behind favourite Boris Johnson.
On July 24, 2019, he was appointed Britain’s Foreign Secretary, replacing Johnson’s leadership rival Jeremy Hunt.
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What are Raab’s views on Brexit?
Raab described May’s proposed deal as worse than remaining in the EU although he voted in favour of it on the third vote on it on March 29, 2019.
The MP also believes the UK should not pay the divorce bill, amounting to £39billion in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
He was on the political advisory board of Leave Means Leave, which called May’s plans “a total, humiliating capitulation”.
Raab once said he was “relaxed” about crashing out of the EU with a No Deal.
As Brexit Secretary he said he “hadn’t understand” the importance of Britain’s trading relationship with France.
He also admitted he hadn’t read the Good Friday agreement from start to finish.
And he’s got the backing of his predecessor in the job too, David Davis.
