Former chief whip Wendy Morton has referred an allegation that Sir Gavin Williamson despatched “abusive” messages to her for an unbiased investigation by a parliamentary watchdog.
The Cabinet Office minister was already going through an inner Conservative Party investigation over the sequence of threatening messages reportedly ship to Ms Morton complaining he had been excluded from the Queen’s funeral.
But now the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme will even have a look at the allegations.
Sir Gavin, a backbencher on the time the messages had been allegedly despatched, accused Ms Morton of utilizing the dying of the monarch to “punish” senior MPs who had been out of favour with Liz Truss’s authorities.
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The messages, which had been initially obtained by The Sunday Times, concluded with Sir Gavin saying: “Well let’s see how many more times you **** us all over. There is a price for everything.”
Former Conservative Party chairman Jake Berry has claimed he informed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that Ms Morton had submitted a proper grievance about Sir Gavin’s conduct the day earlier than he entered Number 10.
On Sunday, Cabinet Office minister Oliver Dowden informed Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme that Mr Sunak knew there was a “difficult relationship” between Sir Gavin and Ms Morton, however “wasn’t aware” of “specific allegations”.
Yesterday, the PM informed broadcasters it’s “right” for an unbiased complaints investigation to happen into accusations of bullying made once more Sir Gavin “before making any decisions about the future”.
The PM’s official spokesman added that Mr Sunak has full confidence in him.
The Guardian has reported that Sir Gavin additionally allegedly informed a senior civil servant to “slit your throat” whereas he was defence secretary.
The newest accusation comes as Mr Sunak faces mounting strain over Sir Gavin’s place.
An ex-official from the Ministry of Defence informed the newspaper that Sir Gavin additionally informed them to “jump out of the window”, in what they felt was a sustained marketing campaign of bullying.
According to The Guardian, the civil servant, who later left authorities, stated Sir Gavin “deliberately demeaned and intimidated” them regularly.
But in an announcement, Sir Gavin stated: “I strongly reject this allegation and have enjoyed good working relationships with the many brilliant officials I have worked with across government.
“No particular allegations have ever been dropped at my consideration.”
Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride told Sky News earlier today that it would be “completely, completely unacceptable” if Sir Gavin made the alleged remarks.
“If that’s the case, that’s completely, completely unacceptable, however in the meanwhile it’s within the realm of media hypothesis,” he said.
Mr Stride said he served in the Whips’ Office under Sir Gavin, and saw him as someone with “this type of aura or mystique round him”.
“There was all the time this nice aura of… do you keep in mind Cronus, the spider, the tarantula and so forth? And the truth with Cronus is he was a lot touted however he by no means really was launched to chew anyone,” he told Kay Burley.
“So that was how I all the time noticed Gavin – as any person who had this type of aura or mystique round him, however the actuality was he simply typically bought on together with his job.”
While the senior civil servant who made the allegations is said to have reported the incidents informally to the MoD’s head of human resources, they decided against making a formal complaint.
However, they said a senior military aide working in the department later apologised to them for not calling out his behaviour.
A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “The Cabinet Office has not obtained discover of any formal complaints about Gavin Williamson’s behaviour from his time on the Ministry of Defence or another division.”
Source: information.sky.com”