Williamson complaint shows “woeful judgement” by Sunak, Rayner says

Angela Rayner has said complaints made against Gavin Williamson of sexism and bullying show “woeful judgement” on the part of Rishi Sunak, who last week appointed the Conservative MP as a minister.

Commenting following reports emerged that a formal complaint had been submitted to the Tory Party over Williamson’s behaviour, the deputy Labour leader highlighted that the minister has already been sacked from government twice.

Williamson was sacked from Theresa May’s government in 2019 after an investigation concluded he had leaked discussions about the role of Chinese telecoms firm Huawei in the UK’s 5G network. He was then sacked by Boris Johnson after being criticised for his handling of school exams during the pandemic.

“These new revelations raise fresh questions about Rishi Sunak’s woeful judgment in resurrecting ministers who left government under a cloud of misconduct. Williamson was sacked from Cabinet twice, yet despite risking national security he has now been put at the heart of the government’s corporate headquarters,” Rayner said.

A formal complaint has reportedly been submitted to the Tory Party regarding “threatening” behaviour by Williamson. Tortoise reported that Wendy Morton, the former chief whip under Liz Truss, has passed on details of “vile and threatening messages” she received in the days before the former Prime Minister resigned.

An MP told the publication that the submission included screen grabs of messages sent by Williamson. They also said there was “quite a bit of evidence” and that a number of Conservative MPs were willing to support Morton’s allegations.

The deputy Labour leader called for an “urgent and independent” investigation into the complaint and argued that, despite promising “integrity, professionalism, and accountability”, Sunak is “failing to stop the rot”

“He promised that appointing an independent ethics adviser would be one of the first things he would do as Prime Minister, but instead he has given us more of the same old sleaze,” she added.

Sunak is currently also under pressure for having reappointed Suella Braverman as Home Secretary upon entering Downing Street, just six days after she resigned from the position for breaching the ministerial code.

The Home Secretary apologised for the breaches in a letter to the home affairs committee on Monday. Labour’s Yvette Cooper said the apology “leaves more unanswered questions” and the opposition party has called for Sunak to sack her.