The Guardian reports:
Gavin Williamson dramatically quit Rishi Sunak’s cabinet on Tuesday night after the Guardian revealed claims that he told a senior civil servant they should “slit your throat” while he was defence secretary.
The Cabinet Office minister stepped down after the former Whitehall aide put in a formal complaint to parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS), piling more pressure on Sunak over his decision to reappoint his ally.
Responding to the news, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper MP said:
This should be the third and final time Gavin Williamson is forced out of the Cabinet.
Rishi Sunak has serious questions to answer about why he appointed Gavin Willlamson, then stood by him instead of sacking him. His promise to lead a government of integrity has now been left in tatters.
We need to know now what Rishi Sunak knew about these shocking allegations and when, through a full independent inquiry.
People deserve so much better than this endless Conservative chaos.
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One Comment
Judging by his lack of competence as Secretary of State for Education I suspect his behaviour is due to his own frustration at being unable to cope with his job. I think, however, we can also link these sleazy events with the lack of leadership from the PMs.
Under Boris, Gavin was at least encouraged to delay decisions and take risks with pupils’ safety from Covid rather than making the effort to find detailed satisfactory solutions that both helped education and kept them safe. If Rishi had any common sense he would have taken full note of Gavin’s lack of competence as well as his behaviour. The same goes for Suella Braverman who allowed her biassed views to get in the way of her judgment; when Attorney General on Question Time, she explicitly repeated wrong information about immigration that Boris had been exposed for doing in Parliament. No one who deliberately distorts information can possibly be a competent Attorney General and so is not suitable for any ministerial post.