Oliver Dowden
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appointed Oliver Dowden, a senior Cabinet official, as deputy prime minister, and Alex Chalk as justice secretary, after U.K. Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab resigned Friday, April 21 Image Credit: AP

LONDON: The British government named Oliver Dowden deputy prime minister on Friday, replacing Dominic Raab who resigned earlier in the day following a report into claims he bullied colleagues.

As deputy prime minister, Raab had no formal powers but stepped in for the prime minister if he was away from parliament or incapacitated.

Dowden currently serves as cabinet office minister in Sunak's government. He was previously chairman of Sunak's Conservative Party but resigned from that post last June after two crushing by-election defeats for the party.

In the same announcement, lawmaker Alex Chalk was appointed new justice minister, a position which was previously held by Raab.