When I read the charges of bullying levelled against the justice secretary Dominic Raab it raised a wry smile. You call that bullying? Being icy with staff? Expecting high standards? Not recognising Nish Kumar? Instead of facing a KC-led disciplinary inquiry I would promote Raab with a handsome bonus.
If you want to meet real bullies, despots or taskmasters could I suggest you go into the news business. I was certainly one of them.
Being a decent brownnoser during my time editing the Sun, I found agreeing with a raging Rupert Murdoch that I was an incompetent idiot wasn’t always the answer he was looking for. In fact, it would sometimes make him even more angry.
On one occasion, Murdoch called from New York. He was incandescent
But I did have the pleasure of being able to pass on the rage to colleagues. After all, when things went wrong it was almost certainly their fault – and so I added ten per cent of vileness to the telling-off I received and then moved on. It was like that every day. I kid you not.
If I didn’t receive a decent, and rather clever kicking, about something I felt quite disappointed. On one occasion, Murdoch called from New York. He was incandescent about the paper. I took it for about three or four minutes and then decided it would be fun (and give me a break) if I put the phone in my desk drawer. I walked slowly round the desk, pulled out the phone and he was still shouting. Oddly, I admired him for that. He cared. There aren’t enough bosses who really do.
Patsy Clark, the editor of the News of the World, told me she had a novel way of dealing with the rage. She would persuade herself that Murdoch was abusing somebody else not her.
Some bullying is purely theatrical. Richard Desmond, when he was the owner of the Express and OK titles, would have weekly meetings of all his senior colleagues which would go on for hours with much abuse – and plenty of hilarity, as long as you weren’t the one being targeted. If somebody said something ‘stupid’ it is said he would order them into a cupboard. Desmond has denied doing so, but nonetheless I thought that story rather funny.
Imagine today if you were a manager in the NHS and told some hopeless HR herbert to get in a cupboard. By the time the Guardian picked up on the story, two things would have happened: your colleague would have got £200,000 from an employment tribunal for ‘hurt’ feelings; and you’d have been fired.
The reality today is that you can’t shout at anybody, no matter how badly they have messed up. That’s a shame as it clears the air. It stops resentment building up.
If Raab gets the boot, it would be a blessing. He knows full well he is going to lose his constituency of Esher and Walton at the next election. By getting kicked out now, he will go out as somebody who wanted decent standards and was prepared to fight for them. That’s a better prospect than just being another cabinet minister hanging around Job Centre Plus come 2024.
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