Rishi Sunak believes that fresh bullying allegations against Gavin Williamson are serious, and is considering whether further action should be taken against him, Downing Street has said.
The Guardian revealed that Williamson, who was brought back to the cabinet by Sunak last month, allegedly told a senior civil servant to “slit your throat” and “jump out of the window” in what they claimed was a bullying campaign while he was defence secretary.
The prime minister’s official spokesperson said no formal complaint had been received over the claims but that No 10 wanted to “check due process” before commenting further – and did not rule out an investigation by the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team.
Williamson has rejected the allegations that he bullied any staff, claiming to have had “good working relationships” with his “brilliant officials”, but has not denied using the specific words.
With the prospect of a third inquiry into Williamson’s behaviour on the cards, Sunak is under increasing pressure over his decision to bring his ally back into government.
Downing Street said that the prime minister still had confidence in the Cabinet Office minister. Challenged over whether this meant Sunak accepted his minister’s account of events, the spokesperson replied: “Yes.”
“Obviously, there have been further allegations reported this morning,” the spokesperson said. “Those are serious allegations that have come in. It’s true that no formal complaint has been made but we want to consider all proper processes before commenting further.
“We have teams in the Cabinet Office who are able to look at issues if required. I’m not saying that is necessarily the case in this instance, but as these are new allegations, we will want to consider what is appropriate.”
The spokesperson denied that keeping Williamson in his job would amount to the prime minister giving carte blanche to ministers to tell their officials to slit their throats.
“The prime minister has been clear about the approach that he wants from ministers, and the high standards that they will be held to,” he said.
“I think the public would understand that, in order to achieve that, you need to follow the correct processes before setting out any further action.”
It follows another key ally of the prime minister saying that no one was “unsackable” and it was “utterly unacceptable” if Williamson had made the remarks to the former senior civil servant.
The latest claim comes after the former Conservative chief whip Wendy Morton said Williamson had sent her offensive WhatsApp messages because he was upset he had not been invited to the Queen’s funeral.
Speaking on Sky News, the work and pensions secretary, Mel Stride, who was a strong backer of Sunak in both of this year’s Conservative leadership contests, said it would be unacceptable if Williamson had used those words.
“If that is the case, that is utterly, utterly unacceptable, but at the moment it is in the realm of media speculation,” he said.
Asked if Williamson was “unsackable”, he replied: “I don’t think anybody is unsackable; I’m not unsackable.”
He confirmed that a complaint made by Morton was being investigated by the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme, the parliamentary watchdog set up after the #MeToo movement. It is also the subject of an internal Conservative party investigation.
Stride said he served in the whips’ office under Williamson and saw him as someone with “this sort of aura or mystique around him”.
“There was always this great aura of … do you remember Cronus, the spider, the tarantula etc? And the reality with Cronus is he was much touted but he never actually was released to bite anybody.
“So that was how I always saw Gavin – as somebody who had this sort of aura or mystique around him – but the reality was he just generally got on with his job.”
Asked later on Times Radio if he thought Williamson was a “good bloke”, Stride said he had “particular talents” and a “particular understanding of the parliamentary party”.
The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, earlier suggested Sunak had done “grubby political deals” in the cases of the home secretary, Suella Braverman, and Williamson.
The prime minister reappointed Braverman as home secretary six days after she was forced to quit over a security breach and her short second stint in the great office of state has been marred by controversy.
He also handed Williamson his government job despite being warned that he was under investigation for allegedly bullying Morton.
Cooper told BBC Breakfast: “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. That is not good enough.”
With regards to the most recent allegations, she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “He doesn’t deny using the language. The language is horrible and you can’t imagine people being treated like that at work.
“Gavin Williamson was reappointed to the cabinet even when Rishi Sunak knew there was a new complaint in against him. He has admitted that the language, even in the previous complaint was unacceptable.
“Bear in mind he has also appointed him to the Cabinet Office, which supports the national security council, even though Gavin Williamson was previously sacked by Theresa May for leaking from the national security council.
“We have also got this other case where Rishi Sunak reappointed Suella Braverman just six days after she was effectively sacked for breaching the ministerial code and security lapses, and where further information and allegations have also come to light since then of security lapses and the leak investigation as well.
“You have got this lack of proper standards. A lack of ethics. We have still not got an ethics adviser appointed and [the Tories are] also not taking security issues seriously.”
