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Gavin Williamson faces an independent investigation after Conservative MP Wendy Morton referred her allegation of abusive messages to a parliamentary watchdog.<\/p>\n
The former chief whip has taken her claim to the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS), The Independent understands.<\/p>\n
Mr Williamson sent WhatsApp messages to Ms Morton in which he claimed she had tried to \u201cf*** us all over\u201d over the lack of an invitation to the Queen\u2019s funeral.<\/p>\n
Rishi Sunak is under increasing pressure over his decision to bring Mr Williamson back into government, with a senior civil servant at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) telling The Guardian he told them to \u201cslit your throat\u201d and \u201cjump out of the window\u201d.<\/p>\n
Sir Gavin, who was sacked as defence secretary in 2019, issued a statement denying the broad allegations in latest report \u2013 but did not specifically deny using the language alleged.<\/p>\n
\u201cI strongly reject this allegation and have enjoyed good working relationships with the many brilliant officials I have worked with across government,\u201d he said. \u201cNo specific allegations have ever been brought to my attention.\u201d<\/p>\n
The newspaper said the MoD official, who later left government, raised the alleged incidents with the department\u2019s head of HR. But it was understood the Cabinet Office\u2019s propriety and ethics team has not received an official complaint about Sir Gavin\u2019s conduct.<\/p>\n
Cabinet minister Mel Stride has said it would be \u201cutterly, utterly unacceptable\u201d if the under-fire minister did tell a senior civil servant to \u201cslit your throat\u201d.<\/p>\n
Sir Gavin apologised for sending abusive messages to a colleague at Tuesday morning\u2019s cabinet meeting, fellow cabinet minister Grant Shapps has said.<\/p>\n
Asked if\u00a0Mr Williamson\u00a0is a bully, business secretary told reporters: \u201cNot in my experience. Clearly he shouldn\u2019t have sent those (messages), he\u2019s recognised that and he\u2019s apologised about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking about the alleged \u201cslit your throat\u201d comments, he added: \u201cI don\u2019t think there was a formal complaint, so let\u2019s wait and see what\u2019s said about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about the pet tarantula Mr Williamson kept in his office while he was chief whip, Mr Stride said: \u201cThe reality with Cronus is he was much touted but he never actually was released to bite anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Labour\u2019s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said there was a \u201clack of proper standards\u201d in the Sunak Government highlighted by the appointments of Sir Gavin\u00a0and home secretary Suella Braverman.<\/p>\n
One the \u201cslit your throat\u201d claim, Ms Cooper told BBC Radio 4\u2019s Today programme: \u201cHe doesn\u2019t deny using the language. The language is horrible and you can\u2019t imagine people being treated like that at work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Conservative former cabinet minister Baroness Morgan said she had \u201crun-ins\u201d with Mr\u00a0Williamson\u00a0when he was Theresa May\u2019s chief whip, adding: \u201cNone of this surprises me, sadly.\u201d<\/p>\n
She told TalkTV on Monday: \u201cUnfortunately Gavin has a reputation, it\u2019s not a very nice one, and I really don\u2019t know why Rishi Sunak felt he had to have him back in government.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politicsGet our free Inside Politics email Gavin Williamson faces an independent investigation after Conservative MP Wendy Morton referred her allegation of abusive messages to a parliamentary watchdog. The former chief whip has taken her claim to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n