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Gavin Williamson is under fresh pressure over his behaviour towards colleagues, as a key ally of the prime minister said no one was “unsackable” and it was “utterly unacceptable” if the Cabinet Office minister had told a former senior civil servant to “jump out of the window” and “slit your throat”.
The Guardian reported on Monday that Williamson, who was brought back to the cabinet by Rishi Sunak last month, allegedly told a senior civil servant to “slit your throat” in what they claimed was a bullying campaign while he was defence secretary.
Williamson said he “strongly” rejected the allegation and insisted he had “enjoyed good working relationships” with officials.
The latest claim comes after the former Conservative chief whip Wendy Morton said Williamson had sent her offensive WhatsApp messages because he was upset he had not been invited to the Queen’s funeral.
Speaking on Sky News, the work and pensions secretary, Mel Stride, who was a strong backer of Sunak in both of this year’s Conservative leadership contests, said it would be “utterly, utterly unacceptable” if Williamson had used those words.
“If that is the case, that is utterly, utterly unacceptable, but at the moment it is in the realm of media speculation,” he said.
Asked if Williamson was “unsackable”, he replied: “I don’t think anybody is unsackable, I’m not unsackable.”
He confirmed that a complaint made by Morton was being investigated by the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS), the parliamentary watchdog set up in the wake of the #metoo movement.
Stride said he served in the whips’ office under Williamson, and saw him as someone with “this sort of aura or mystique around him”.
“There was always this great aura of … do you remember Cronus, the spider, the tarantula etc? And the reality with Cronus is he was much touted but he never actually was released to bite anybody.
“So that was how I always saw Gavin – as somebody who had this sort of aura or mystique around him, but the reality was he just generally got on with his job.”
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Asked later on Times Radio if he thought Williamson was a “good bloke”, Stride said he had “particular talents” and a “particular understanding of the parliamentary party.
The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, earlier suggested Sunak had done “grubby political deals” in the cases of both the home secretary, Suella Braverman, and Williamson.
The prime minister reappointed Braverman as home secretary six days after she was forced to quit over a security breach and her short second stint in the great office of state has been marred by controversy.
He also handed Williamson his government job despite being warned that he was under investigation for allegedly bullying Morton.
Cooper told BBC Breakfast: “In both cases, this really looks like Rishi Sunak has just done grubby political deals that aren’t in the national interest. It really looks like we have got more of the same. That is not good enough.”
With regards to the most recent allegations, she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “He doesn’t deny using the language. The language is horrible and you can’t imagine people being treated like that at work.
“Gavin Williamson was reappointed to the cabinet even when Rishi Sunak knew there was a new complaint in against him. He has admitted that the language, even in the previous complaint was unacceptable.
“Bear in mind he has also appointed him to the Cabinet Office, which supports the national security council, even though Gavin Williamson was previously sacked by Theresa May for leaking from the national security council.
“We have also go this other case where Rishi Sunak reappointed Suella Braverman just six days after she was effectively sacked for breaching the ministerial code and security lapses, and where further information and allegations has also come to light since then of security lapses and the leak investigation as well.
“You have got this lack of proper standards, a lack of ethics. We have still not got an ethics adviser appointed and (the Tories are) also not taking security issues seriously.”
