Sir Gavin Williamson, minister without portfolio, on Tuesday denied fresh allegations of bullying as he was officially referred to the parliamentary body responsible for MPs’ conduct by the former Tory chief whip.
Williamson is alleged to have told a senior civil servant to “slit your throat” and another official to “jump out of the window” while serving as defence secretary.
Downing Street on Tuesday said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak maintained “full confidence” in Williamson but that the pair had not spoken about the latest allegations, first reported by the Guardian newspaper.
“Those are serious allegations that have come in. It’s true that no formal complaint has been made,” it said.
Meanwhile, former chief whip Wendy Morton on Tuesday made a formal complaint about Williamson’s behaviour to parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme, which oversees MPs’ conduct.
The move follows claims by her of bullying by Williamson, who last month returned to government as a fixer for Sunak based in the Cabinet Office, after he sent her expletive-laden texts about the allocation of places at Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.
Williamson on Tuesday did not deny using specific words, but did deny allegations of bullying, saying that he had had “good working relationships” with civil servants in the departments he had worked in.
Downing Street added that “we want to take the time to consider them” before commenting further and that “integrity is vitally important and ministers need to be held to high standards”.
Mel Stride, work and pensions secretary and a close ally of Sunak, said Williamson’s alleged comments were “utterly unacceptable” but that “at the moment it is in the realm of media speculation”.
Asked by Sky News if Williamson was “unsackable”, Stride said: “I don’t think anybody is unsackable; I’m not unsackable.” He also confirmed that Williamson was under investigation by parliament’s ICGS following Morton’s complaint.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper accused Sunak of “grubby” political deals and compared the appointment of Williamson to that of Suella Braverman, the home secretary, who has been accused of leaking sensitive information.
Referring to Morton’s complaint and the allegations made by civil servants, Cooper told the BBC: “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.”
She added of Williamson: “He doesn’t deny using the language. The language is horrible and you can’t imagine people being treated like that at work.”
Dave Penman, head of the FDA union, which represents senior civil servants, described the process for investigating the civil servants’ allegations as a “sham” and called on Sunak to appoint a new independent adviser on ministerial interests.
“Even if a civil servant came forward now with a fresh allegation about any minister, there is no way for that to be investigated. The entire process is a sham,” said Penman.
Lord Christopher Geidt, the last ethics adviser, resigned in June after a dispute with Boris Johnson over the ministerial code. Downing Street said Sunak intended to appoint a new adviser in due course.
