Sir Gavin Williamson has resigned after further allegations of ‘shocking’, ‘threatening’ and ‘intimidating’ behaviour were made by a former government colleague.
The former Cabinet Office minister said he had decided to ‘step back from Government’ while the complaints process into his conduct is carried out, vowing to ‘clear my name of any wrongdoing’.
It follows allegations he sent expletive-laden messages to former chief whip Wendy Morton complaining about being refused an invitation to the Queen’s funeral, claims he bullied a former official at the Ministry of Defence and an accusation of ‘unethical and immoral’ behaviour while he was chief whip.
Sir Gavin said there was an ongoing complaints process ‘concerning text messages I sent to a colleague’ – a reference to Ms Morton’s complaint.
‘I am complying with this process and I have apologised to the recipient for those messages,’ he said.
‘Since 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.
‘I have therefore decided to step back from Government so that I can comply fully with the complaints process that is underway and clear my name of any wrongdoing.’
Ex-Conservative MP Anne Milton, deputy chief whip when Sir Gavin was chief whip between July 2016 and November 2017, said Sir Gavin collected ‘salacious gossip’ about MPs’ ‘sexual preferences’ to potentially hold against them.
She also accused him of using MPs’ mental and physical health problems as ‘leverage’.
Speaking to Channel 4 News on Tuesday night, Ms Milton said Sir Gavin agreed for her to hand over a cheque to an MP experiencing financial difficulties – but instructed her: ‘Make sure when you give him this cheque, he knows I now own him.’
She added: ‘I don’t think it was a joke. It was the seriousness with which he said it. And I think that the bottom line is, if instances accord with your overall experience with somebody, then you believe them.’
Ms Milton said she gave the MP the cheque but did not pass on Sir Gavin’s message.
She described Sir Gavin as showing an ‘unethical and immoral’ and ‘shocking’ manner when they worked together in the whips’ office – and said his behaviour in the role was ‘threatening’ and ‘intimidating’, adding: ‘It’s an image he cultivates.
‘I think he feels that he’s Francis Urquhart from House of Cards.’
She added: ‘I got the impression that he loved salacious gossip, and would use it as leverage against MPs if the need arose.’
Ms Milton said it included ‘people’s sexual preferences, that sort of thing’, adding: ‘He loved all that. He would come into the office and say, “guess who enjoys, you know, some form of sex or another”.
‘I found it very distasteful apart from anything.’
And she recalled being shocked by an email from him in 2016 in response to a female civil servant’s inquiry about why a minister had to change travel plans to attend a vote.
He allegedly wrote: ‘Always tell them to f*** off and if they have the bollocks to come and see me. F***ing jumped up civil servants.’
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