There may of course be difficulties for an individual civil servant in feeling able to make a contemporaneous formal complaint about a serving Minister.
(6) Access to documents
93. The nature of the allegations in the Complaints is such that one would not expect much in the way of directly relevant documentary evidence. All of the allegations were in substance about the conduct of the DPM in meetings with policy officials or in daily interactions with members of private office. One would not expect such events to be the subject of documentary record.
94. The FCDO and the MoJ were able to provide all of the documents which the DPM requested, mainly for the purpose of providing factual context in respect of the meetings which were the subject of the allegations in the Complaints. DExEU has obviously ceased to exist and the events which were the subject of the DExEU Complaint were not likely to have been recorded in documents in any event.
95. It became apparent to me during the investigation that there were likely to be numerous ephemeral written communications in the form of text or WhatsApp messages. I was shown some such messages on request, but I did not consider it necessary or appropriate to seek access to the entire history of such messages, in view of their limited relevance (they did not form part of any of the alleged conduct) and the degree of intrusion involved. As a matter of substance, I have been able to reach conclusions on the specific facts surrounding the Complaints; to the limited extent that conclusions were not possible, the availability of such material is most unlikely to have made any difference.
(7) 'Cross-admissibility' and media coverage
96. The DPM made a number of points in this respect in his written representations, some of which I found persuasive and others which I did not. The DPM contended, and I agree, that each allegation in the Complaints should be subject to separate and careful scrutiny. He also contended, and I also agree, that it would not be appropriate for the number of allegations alone to lend weight to their credibility. However, a degree of similarity amongst allegations may be relevant in establishing a pattern of conduct; the extent to which it would or might do so would depend on the particular circumstances, including the degree of independence of the sources of evidence.
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