Dominic Raab insists diary secretary sex scandal is 'storm in a teacup'
3 min read
Housing minister Dominic Raab has insisted a sex scandal involving his diary secretary which sparked a security alert is a "storm in a teacup".
The aide, named as Rebecca Tott, was suspended after it emerged she had advertised on Seeking Arrangement, which describes itself as "the leading Sugar Daddy dating site”.
She met twice with an undercover reporter from The Daily Mirror and joked that she would “love to get sacked” for having sex in Mr Raab's office.
When confronted over the revelations, she said: "Obviously the allegations aren’t fantastic. They aren’t great for my career but we’ll deal with that."
Former Scotland Yard royal protection chief Dai Davies said: "This individual knows a great deal of sensitive information yet she does not even know who she is revealing it to. If she is being so open with someone she has barely met, then she could be liable to blackmail."
Speaking for the first time since the scandal broke, Mr Raab insisted it had been blown out of proportion.
He told Anna Foster on 5Live, he said: "To be honest, the first thing I thought was this is a 20-year-old young woman caught in a media storm, and my initial concern was just to make sure that someone in a vulnerable position like that was properly looked after by us as the department, and me as the Minister of State. And that's something the Civil Service and I and my officials agreed on.
"I feel a bit of a letdown to the rich tradition of political peccadillos that we have in this country. But actually at the end of the day, a storm in a tea cup. It's fish and chip paper wrapping the next day."
LUNCH
Mr Raab also denied the aide's claim that he always ordered the same lunch from Pret A Manger every day - a chicken caesar and bacon baguette, a superfruit pot and vitamin volcano smoothie.
He said: "It's one of those little things. I'm now getting tweets from Subway making various different offers to me. But the truth is [it's] not true. In fact I don't recall ever asking my diary secretary to get me lunch.
"But the reality is, I do love a good chicken caesar baguette from Pret, and the reality is sometimes you've just got your head down going through all the paperwork, and the team will often say, 'Can we get you a sandwich?'
"I've been tempted by the spicy Italian baguette from Subway. But, look, I have something different every day. The reality is we often find ourselves skipping lunch, getting a sandwich at the desk, and I think a lot of people out there doing busy jobs are in the same boat."
On whether he would try the spicy Italian baguette, he said: "It's meatball in a very thick tomato sauce. I just worry about getting it all over my tie. That's why I haven't been quite brave enough yet [to try it]. But there could be a Dom Raab Special Two. Who knows what next week will bring?"
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