David Davis always claimed his training as an SAS reservist helped him in Brexit negotiations. If being a skilled fighter is a prerequisite for one of the toughest jobs in politics, then in his replacement Theresa May has found her man.

Dominic Raab, the new Brexit secretary, has a black belt in karate. Davis, when shadow home secretary, told friends he was so impressed that he made the former lawyer and Foreign Office diplomat his chief of staff.

Dominic Raab named Brexit secretary in cabinet reshuffle Read more

It was seen as quite a coup. “Dom is a class act. He’s very calm, very diligent, very thoughtful,” says a Tory insider. “DD really respected him. He was a high-flier before he came into politics and he brought that professionalism with him.”



Rabb’s career before entering politics was stellar. After picking up degrees at Oxford and Cambridge, he joined the multinational law firm Linklaters as a solicitor, then cut his negotiating teeth in the late 1990s working for one of the principal Palestinian negotiators of the Oslo peace accords. “He’s very courteous and will always listen to different sides of the argument,” a former colleague says.

In 2000, he joined the Foreign Office, where he covered a range of briefs including the European Union and bringing war criminals to trial in The Hague. It was here that he defended Tony Blair from subpoena by the former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević.

Play Video 0:28 Dominic Raab to step up no-deal Brexit plans – video

Raab became MP for Esher and Walton in 2010, and despite being tipped for the top did not break into the ministerial ranks until five years later, when David Cameron promoted him to the Ministry of Justice. Before then, much of his time was spent challenging May, the then home secretary, over civil liberties and espousing some of his more libertarian views on regulation.

In a pamphlet for the Centre for Policy Studies in 2011, he suggested abolishing the working time directive and ensuring workers employed by small businesses did not benefit from flexible working rights or pension auto-enrolment.

He was also caught up in a sexism row after he suggested feminists were “obnoxious bigots” and men were getting such a “raw deal” that it was time they “started burning their briefs”. His assertiondrew a stinging rebuke from May, who suggested it was “not the way forward”.

But he does not appear to have disowned that view. He recently tried to explain he was a meritocrat (“I believe in girl power to the core”) but added: “I’m just making a very simple point about double standards, and actually you corrode the value of equality if you don’t get consistency. But I don’t run away from it.”

Some Tory insiders believe he got off on the wrong foot with May, which explains why he lost his job when she took over as leader in 2016. Raab remains bullish. “I certainly don’t regret that period on the backbenches,” he said recently. “You can have those challenging debates but still be a team player.”

Either way, it was clear he had been forgiven when she appointed him to the Ministry of Justice a year later, where he steered the article 50 legislation through the Commons. A few months later he was moved again, this time to housing, a key issue for the prime minister. Friends, however, said he was disappointed to be away from the Brexit frontline.

Even as housing minister, Rabb strayed into controversial territory, suggesting people who used food banks typically did so not because of poverty but because they have an occasional “cashflow problem”. There was also an embarrassing row with the UK Statistics Authority over a claim that immigration had made house prices soar.

While some of his colleagues describe him as “likeable”, not all are so impressed. “Dominic is his own biggest fan,” says one MP. “He’s just a bit too clever. He comes across as rather arrogant sometimes. He would do well to tone it down.”

In April, his then diary secretary complained to an undercover reporter from the Daily Mirror that he was difficult to work with and had “tunnel vision”. She said: “I’m not his biggest fan. You have to be very straight with him. He finds it difficult dealing with women. He’s very dismissive.” She also revealed that he had the same sandwich from Pret a Manger every day, which he has denied.

Raab’s appointment as Brexit secretary may be less divisive than the alternatives. Febrile pro-Brexit MPs are sated, at least temporarily, by having one of their own running the show. “Dom is a good thing,” says one. “He’ll hold the prime minister to her promises.”

Brexit weekly briefing: Davis departure leaves May exposed Read more

The remainer wing of the party also seem content for now, although some MPs openly question how much power over the process Raab will be able to prise from the steely grip of Downing Street, while expressing surprise that he felt able to accept the Chequers agreement any more than Davis.

He is a friend of leading Tory rebel Dominic Grieve, for whom he was chief of staff before entering parliament in 2010, and although a longstanding Brexiter, they hope he will prove to be a pragmatic one. One remain MP says: “He’s a believer, but we can work with him.”

Raab’s biggest challenge now is to help persuade Brussels to accept May’s new Brexit plan. He has just three months until the deal is supposed to be signed off, and it is highly likely that more concessions will need to be made as negotiations continue their tortuous path.

He is, at least, expected to be ready, having lived and breathed Brexit for most of his career. “You need to understand what makes the EU tick, both as an organisation but also the different member states,” he said recently of the negotiations. “You’d be crazy not to do your homework.”