New allegations of ‘shocking’, ‘threatening’ and ‘intimidating’ behaviour by Sir Gavin Williamson have been made by one of his former government colleagues – including that he collected ‘salacious gossip’ about MPs’ ‘sexual preferences’ to potentially hold against them.
Ex-Conservative MP Anne Milton, deputy chief whip when Sir Gavin was chief whip between July 2016 and November 2017, also accused him of using MPs’ mental and physical health problems as ‘leverage’.
And she told Channel 4 News that Mr Williamson 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.’
Ms Milton, who was stripped of the Tory whip during the Brexit rows in 2019 and subsequently lost her seat, questioned Rishi Sunak’s decision to give Sir Gavin a ministerial job, saying: ‘I think (at) best it was probably a bit naive.
‘I don’t know that there are many people that would hang out the bunting to see Gavin Williamson back in government.’
Downing Street is understood to be undertaking a fact-finding exercise and considering how to respond to allegations Sir Gavin told a senior civil servant to ‘slit your throat’.
In a statement refuting the bullying claims, Sir Gavin said: ‘I strongly reject this allegation and have enjoyed good working relationships with the many brilliant officials I have worked with across Government.’
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