{"id":27184,"date":"2022-11-09T03:06:10","date_gmt":"2022-11-09T03:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=27184"},"modified":"2022-11-09T03:06:11","modified_gmt":"2022-11-09T03:06:11","slug":"gavin-williamson-resigns-as-minister-in-sinaks-cabinet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2022\/11\/09\/gavin-williamson-resigns-as-minister-in-sinaks-cabinet\/","title":{"rendered":"Gavin Williamson resigns as Minister in Sinak\u2019s Cabinet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gavin Williamson dramatically quit Rishi Sunak\u2019s cabinet on Tuesday night after the Guardian revealed claims that he told a senior civil servant\u00a0to \u201cslit your throat\u201dwhile he was defence secretary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Cabinet Office minister stepped down after the former Whitehall aide put in a formal complaint to parliament\u2019s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS), piling more pressure on Sunak over his decision to reappoint his ally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Williamson\u2019s fate appeared to be sealed after further bullying allegations from his former deputy chief whip, who criticised his \u201cunethical and immoral\u201d behaviour and claimed he used \u201cleverage\u201d and threats to control MPs and instil a culture of fear in Westminster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"zxx\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3lMzmHqzsN\">pic.twitter.com\/3lMzmHqzsN<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Sir Gavin Williamson CBE MP (@GavinWilliamson) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/GavinWilliamson\/status\/1590074499889696768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 8, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his resignation letter, the MP conceded that claims about his conduct had become a \u201cdistraction\u201d and he had decided to \u201cstep back from government\u201d while the complaints process was carried out, vowing to \u201cclear my name of any wrongdoing\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his response, Sunak said he was accepting Williamson\u2019s resignation with \u201cgreat sadness\u201d but added that he supported his decision to stand down. The prime minister also thanked his political ally for his \u201cpersonal support and loyalty\u201d and the work he had done during his brief spell in Government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His decision to quit \u2013 the third time he has been forced to leave cabinet after he was sacked as defence secretary by Theresa May and education secretary by Boris Johnson \u2013 follows allegations he sent expletive-laden messages to former chief whip Wendy Morton\u00a0complaining about not being invited to the queen\u2019s funeral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, the manner of his departure \u2013 stepping down rather than being forced out by the prime minister \u2013 will raise further questions about Sunak\u2019s political judgment, with his controversial cabinet appointments, also including the home secretary, Suella Braverman,\u00a0overshadowing his first few weeks in office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Conservative whip\u2019s office confirmed that the former minister remained a Tory MP for now, with a spokesperson saying: \u201cSir Gavin Williamson has been clear that he will comply with the ongoing complaints process. It is right that we wait for that process to conclude.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Williamson is now facing three separate inquiries into his behaviour, two with the ICGS and the other an internal Conservative party investigation. Two relate to the same incident involving Morton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The third follows the revelations in the Guardian that Williamson allegedly told a senior civil servant to \u201cslit your throat\u201d and \u201cjump out of the window\u201d, in what they claimed was a bullying campaign while he was defence secretary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Williamson has rejected the allegations that he bullied any staff, claiming to have had \u201cgood working relationships\u201d with his \u201cbrilliant officials\u201d, but has not denied using the specific words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a statement, the complainant said they had an \u201cincredibly difficult period\u201d working for Williamson at the MoD and that the alleged bullying had taken \u201can extreme impact\u201d on their mental health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a separate development, two further sources who spoke to the Guardian claimed that during his time as chief whip Williamson had been heard joking or boasting about the effect his tactics had on the mental health of those he worked with, with one saying it had \u201cmade people uncomfortable\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In an extraordinary interview with Channel 4 News, Anne Milton accused Williamson of using MPs\u2019 mental and physical health problems against them, collecting \u201csalacious gossip\u201d about their \u201csexual preferences\u201d and on one occasion telling her to give an MP with financial problems a cheque and tell them: \u201cI now own him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to Milton, who stepped down as an MP in 2019, the former chief whip sent her an email in response to a female civil servant\u2019s inquiry about why a minister had to change travel plans to attend a vote, saying: \u201cAlways tell them to fuck off and if they have the bollocks to come and see me. Fuck jumped up civil servants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She added: \u201cIt\u2019s an image he cultivates. I think he feels that he\u2019s Francis Urquhart from House of Cards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Downing Street had said Sunak believed that\u00a0the MoD bullying allegations against Williamson were serious, and was considering\u00a0whether further action should be taken against him. It has not yet responded to the allegations in the Channel 4 interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The prime minister\u2019s official spokesperson had signalled that Sunak might not wait for formal investigations to fully complete before deciding what, if any, action to take. Before the latest claims, he said that Sunak retained full confidence in the Cabinet Office minister and believed his denial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, in a statement the complainant said: \u201cI have made the decision to formally report Gavin Williamson\u2019s behaviour while at the Ministry of Defence to parliament\u2019s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis was an incredibly difficult period for me. Gavin Williamson\u2019s words and actions had an extreme impact on my mental health. Government ministers have a code of conduct that they are required to follow. Any form of abuse is unacceptable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI have decided to come forward after feeling stronger given the passage of time and after seeing the nature of his messages to Wendy Morton.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The latest investigation comes after Morton said Williamson had sent her offensive WhatsApp messages because he was upset he had not been invited to the Queen\u2019s funeral. The Guardian understands he has still not apologised to the Tory MP despite saying he had done so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his resignation letter to the prime minister, Williamson said there was an ongoing complaints process \u201cconcerning text messages I sent to a colleague\u201d. He added: \u201cI am complying with this process and I have apologised to the recipient for those messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSince then, there have been other allegations made about my past conduct. I refute the characterisation of these claims, but I recognise these are becoming a distraction for the good work this government is doing for the British people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI have therefore decided to step back from government so that I can comply fully with the complaints process that is under way and clear my name of any wrongdoing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Williamson is entitled to about \u00a316,876 in severance pay for lasting exactly two weeks in government, in addition to \u00a32,589 in gross pay, but he tweeted on Tuesday night that he would not be taking it. \u201cThis is taxpayers\u2019 money and it should go instead toward the government\u2018s priorities like reducing the NHS\u2019s waiting lists,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Labour deputy leader, Angela Rayner, said: \u201cThis is a damning reflection of a weak prime minister. Rishi Sunak appointed Gavin Williamson with full knowledge of serious allegations about his conduct and repeatedly expressed confidence in him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is yet another example of Rishi Sunak\u2019s poor judgment and weak leadership. It is clear that he is trapped by the grubby backroom deals he made to dodge a vote, and is incapable of putting country before party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAs families struggle during a cost of living crisis made in Downing Street, yet another Tory government has descended into chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gavin Williamson dramatically quit Rishi Sunak\u2019s cabinet on Tuesday night after the Guardian revealed claims that he told a senior civil servant\u00a0to \u201cslit your throat\u201dwhile he was defence secretary. The Cabinet Office minister stepped down after the former Whitehall aide put in a formal complaint to parliament\u2019s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS), piling more [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":27185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[4791,11261,11264,4955,2701,5090,157,5268,3782,10387,6369,13108,7823,11381,10000,323,6672,8440,3513,6718,685,423,6738,8057,12210,11638,7896,8481,2264,12634,7713,2698,11493,10197,1828,9974,5913,6864,5612,278,2402,3570,11973,1198,10917,3174,3927,8297,7423,5266,7217,11325,8284,8302,1568,255,6594,5353,6584,5350,6267,5165,3954,10415,594],"class_list":["post-27184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","tag-abuse","tag-accused","tag-allegations","tag-anne-milton","tag-behaviour","tag-boris","tag-boris-johnson","tag-british","tag-cabinet","tag-campaign","tag-chaos","tag-civil-servant","tag-code","tag-complaint","tag-conservative","tag-conservative-party","tag-cost-of-living","tag-crisis","tag-culture","tag-downing","tag-downing-street","tag-education","tag-families","tag-fear","tag-female","tag-forced","tag-funeral","tag-gavin-williamson","tag-government","tag-health","tag-health-problems","tag-home-secretary","tag-interview","tag-investigation","tag-labour","tag-leadership","tag-mental-health","tag-ministers","tag-money","tag-mp","tag-mps","tag-nhs","tag-one","tag-parliament","tag-poor","tag-prime-minister","tag-queen","tag-resign","tag-resigns","tag-rishi-sunak","tag-sacked","tag-street","tag-suella-braverman","tag-sunak","tag-theresa-may","tag-tory","tag-tory-mp","tag-trapped","tag-travel","tag-twitter","tag-westminster","tag-whatsapp","tag-will","tag-work","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}