Gavin Williamson ‘told senior civil servant to slit their throat’: New claim by MoD official piles more pressure on under-fire Cabinet Office minister
- MoD official said Mr Williamson ‘deliberately demeaned and intimidated’ them
- Said Sir Gavin made ‘slit your throat’ comment in front of other civil servants
- Rishi Sunak said he has full confidence in him despite claims made by female MP
- She said he raised sensitive details about her private life in attempt to silence her
- Comes days after abusive messages from Sir Gavin to chief whip were revealed
Sir Gavin Williamson told a senior civil servant to ‘slit your throat’ and ‘jump out of a window’, it was claimed last night.
A Ministry of Defence official alleged that Sir Gavin ‘deliberately demeaned and intimidated’ them regularly when he was defence secretary between 2017 and 2019.
They told the Guardian that the ‘slit your throat’ comment was made in front of other shocked civil servants during a meeting. The ‘jump out of a window’ remark was made on a separate occasion, they alleged.
The official, who later left government, said they reported the alleged behaviour to the MoD’s head of human resources, but did not to make a formal complaint.
They told the newspaper Sir Gavin ‘shouted and raged’ and a senior military official from the department later apologised for not calling out the now Cabinet Officer minister.
Sir Gavin denied bullying the official but did not appear to deny using the specific words.
A Ministry of Defence official alleged that Sir Gavin Williamson (pictured today) ‘deliberately demeaned and intimidated’ them regularly when he was defence secretary
He said in a statement: ‘I strongly reject this allegation and have enjoyed good working relationships with the many brilliant officials I have worked with across government.’
The allegation was revealed on the day that Downing Street insisted Rishi Sunak retains full confidence in Sir Gavin despite a female MP coming forward to accuse Sir Gavin of raising sensitive details about her private life in an attempt to silence her.
Downing Street has insisted Rishi Sunak (pictured during the Cop27 summit today) retains full confidence in Sir Gavin
The MP alleges that when Sir Gavin was chief whip in 2016, he raised an issue about her private life at a time when she was campaigning on a difficult issue for the Government, The Times reported.
And this allegation came just days after abusive messages Sir Gavin sent to former chief whip Wendy Morton were revealed.
No 10 said Mr Sunak will allow the complaints process to run its course before deciding whether to act.
Yesterday senior Tories criticised Sir Gavin, with Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross saying he would sack any of his frontbenchers who used the sort of language in the messages.
In the expletive-laden texts to Mrs Morton Sir Gavin accused her of using the Queen’s death to ‘punish’ senior MPs who were out of favour with Liz Truss by excluding them from the funeral’s guest list.
In one, he wrote: ‘Let’s see how many more times you f*** us all over. There is a price for everything.’
Anne Milton, a former Tory MP who served as deputy chief whip under Sir Gavin, said: ‘The use of information as leverage against MPs has no place in modern politics. I am surprised he was appointed as a minister.’
In the expletive-laden texts to former chief whip Wendy Morton (pictured) Sir Gavin accused her of using the Queen’s death to ‘punish’ senior MPs who were out of favour with Liz Truss by excluding them from the funeral’s guest list
Yesterday Mr Sunak said: ‘I’ve been very clear that language is not right, it’s not acceptable.
‘And that’s why I welcome the fact that Gavin Williamson has expressed regret about that and now we wait to see what the investigation says.’
It comes as it is revealed that Sir Gavin has failed in his bid to stop his constituency being carved up. The Boundary Commission for England’s revised proposals published today would see the county of Staffordshire go from 12 to 11 MPs.
Sir Gavin’s South Staffordshire seat is set to merge with part of South Dudley, currently held by Tory MP Mike Wood.
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