Gavin Williamson ordered to apologise over 'bullying' texts over Queen's funeral
Sir Gavin Williamson has been ordered to apologise in Parliament for "offensive and intimidating behaviour" towards the ex-Tory Chief Whip over tickets to the Queen's funeral.
The scandal-hit ex-Education Secretary was forced to resign from Cabinet only days into Rishi Sunak's premiership after Wendy Morton accused him of bullying. She complained to the Commons watchdog that he sent her sweary texts complaining about not being given a seat at Queen Elizabeth's funeral in September.
Sir Gavin had been cleared of bullying by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Daniel Greenberg but Ms Morton appealed the decision. In a judgement today, the Independent Expert Panel (IEP) said his conduct "went beyond what is acceptable" and "went beyond 'legitimate political debate"'.
"The respondent's words in the texts were not only 'rude and aggressive...offensive and intimidating', as the commissioner rightly found, they were in the nature of a very personal attack on the complainant by way of threat," the report said.
"In the clearest terms, he was going to make her position difficult and frustrate her role as the newly appointed chief whip, all as revenge for his perception that she had denied him (and others) a ticket to the Queen's funeral because he was not a Prime Minister Truss supporter. This was not just a party matter or a simple political difference. It was direct action by way of threat to her personally. And that is clearly how she felt it."
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Sir Gavin, who has twice been sacked as a minister, was ordered to make a formal apology in the Commons and undergo training. He has accepted the decision, according to the IEP.
The row centred on expletive-filled texts Sir Gavin sent to Ms Morton when he missed out on tickets for the Queen's funeral. He accused her of exploiting the sombre event for political gain and claimed he was being punished for failing to support Liz Truss in the leadership race.
Messages published by the watchdog show he confronted Ms Morton over how privy counsellors who "are not favoured have been excluded". When she denied this, he said it looks "very s***" and added: "Don’t forget I know how this works so don’t puss(sic) me about”.
He told her "don’t bother asking anything from me” and said it was "absolutely disgusting" that she was apparently "using her death to punish people". Sir Gavin signed off his rant: “Well lets see how many more times you f*** us all over. There is a price for everything." Sir Gavin never disputed the content of the messages but denied it was bullying.
Sir Gavin, who was handed a knighthood by Boris Johnson last year, is a divisive figure in Westminster, where he gained a reputation for "dark arts" during his time as Chief Whip. He was sacked by Theresa May as Defence Secretary in 2019 for leaking details of a National Security Council meeting, and again by Mr Johnson as Education Secretary after presiding over A-Level chaos.
But Mr Sunak put him back in Cabinet when he became PM. He was forced out soon after over the bullying allegations - which cast a shadow over Mr Sunak's pledge to govern with "integrity".
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