Dangers lie in confusing home truths with bullying after Dominic Raab resignation: Sarah Todd

Disgruntled staff, having to put in extra hours and generally pull their socks up, may well call these instigators of change bullies but are they really? Are they not simply putting their life and soul into making change happen to secure a better future for everyone?

This correspondent started life in the newsroom unable to spell for neither love nor money. Having failed, as a teenager, the compulsory spelling test to get taken on by the local ‘paper the older hacks probably, looking back, bullied this young wannabe reporter.

This was back in the days when having a personality (rather than a degree) hadn’t been abolished and after a chat about his love for horseracing the editor agreed to give this enthusiastic applicant a chance.

They threw a dictionary across the room whenever a spelling mistake got through to the sub-editors and a farmyard upbringing had nothing on the language learnt when a blooper actually ended up in print. It really didn’t do any harm. They are days looked back on with such fondness; they were a group of people passionate about their newspaper and the accuracy they demanded has been a lifelong lesson.

Among much hilarity they gave a huge hardback dictionary, still in pride of place on the bookshelf, as a leaving gift when - thanks to their exacting standards - the next rung of the career ladder was climbed.

Some would say this point of view is because of psychological trauma suffered in that first job, but was Dominic Raab an actual bully or simply someone who expected high standards from his well-paid staff?

The independent investigation into the Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary upheld two out of eight complaints against him; finding he had “acted in a way which was intimidating” and had been “unreasonably and persistently aggressive in meetings”.

In his resignation letter Raab was right to respond that “setting the threshold for bullying so low” has set a dangerous president and will have a “chilling effect” on those driving change in the future.

Companies will end up going bust, unable to give the proverbial kick up the backside to a lazy or incompetent member of staff. Many jobs will have actually been saved by a bit of a roasting from the boss; bucking ideas up and getting an errant worker back firing on all cylinders again.

If Dominic Raab wants to make a career outside politics a man with his strength of character would be a godsend in the banking industry.

The old Mini has gone and our 22 year-old daughter is buying a newish car. With a regular income in her first proper job it makes sense, so we’re told, to pay for part of it with a loan. That way, she will be building up a credit rating which is an essential item for eventually buying a house. Or doing anything these days it seems

She located a remaining branch of her bank - no mean feat in a rural area - and rather than being greeted with a smile was sourly dismissed with the instructions to “do it on the app”.

Her parents rang up their bank to compare rates only to be patronised - or bullied? - with the line that they haven’t actually spoken to customers about loans for a good many years and the only way to find out about them is online.

This got The Husband reminiscing about buying his first house and, after filling in the paper application and returning it to the branch, getting a telephone call from the bank manager’s secretary summoning him in for a chat.

He put on a suit and tie and was given a very stern talking to by the manager about the responsibilities of home ownership and subjected to a real grilling on the importance of keeping an eye on unnecessary expense.

As a funny aside, avoiding spending money is something he has never had a problem with.

Surely, if this kind of face-to-face chat was compulsory we might not be such a debt-ridden society. There are times in our lives that we need somebody in authority to mark our cards; to tell us some home truths.

Ticking a few boxes on a mobile ‘phone app couldn’t be further removed from that bank manager’s dour chat and our society is all the worse for it.