Rishi Sunak still retains full confidence in Sir Gavin Williamson, following emergence of abusive texts, Downing Street has said.
Meanwhile, leader of the opposition, Sir Keir Starmer suggested he feels that Sir Gavin is “clearly not suitable” for the job, following news that he allegedly bullied former chief whip Wendy Morton.
Sir Keir went on to call his appointment a sign of how “weak” Mr Sunak is.
Elsewhere, Grant Shapps has said he finds the angry messages sent by Sir Gavin to be “completely inappropriate.”
Speaking to LBC, the business secretary said: “It’s completely inappropriate to send messages like that under any circumstances, frustration or otherwise. It’s absolutely right that’s been looked into, there is a process underway”.
Sir Gavin has been accused of bullying former chief whip Wendy Morton, after he angrily claimed she was seeking to “punish” MPs like him who were out of favour with Liz Truss by excluding them from the Queen’s funeral.
The exchange of texts, described by Mr Sunak as “not acceptable or right”, concluded with Sir Gavin saying: “Well let’s see how many more times you f*** us all over. There is a price for everything.”
China lashes out at UK’s post-Brexit trade talks with Taiwan
China has lashed out the UK for sending a minister to Taiwan for trade talks, insisting that any “official contacts” with the self-governing territory must cease.
Trade minister Greg Hands is kicking off a two-day visit on Monday with discussions aimed at “boosting” trade after Brexit and promoting UK expertise in hydrogen and offshore wind.
Ahead of his visit, Mr Hands said: “Boosting trade with this vital partner is part of the UK’s post-Brexit tilt towards the Indo-Pacific and closer collaboration will help us future-proof our economy in the decades to come.”
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Scottish Tory leader would sack any frontbencher sending abusive messages
Scottish Conservative party leader Douglas Ross said he would sack any frontbencher found sending messages like those sent by cabinet minister Gavin Williamson.
Asked if he would sack a frontbench MSPs at Holyrood if they were sending such messages, Mr Ross told Times Radio: “Yes they wouldn’t be in my front bench with the language that’s been used.”
Stopping short of calling on Rishi Sunak to fire Mr Williamson, Mr Ross added: “But I understand what the prime minister’s saying, there’s an investigation underway. And I don’t know all the details, but I’ve seen the messages … I wouldn’t expect it from any of my colleagues in Holyrood.”
Trust in politicians has fallen sharply – can it be won back?
Given the political turmoil of the last few months (although we can also go back further than that), it is of little surprise that the connection between the public and parliament appears thinner than ever.
New polling conducted by YouGov for the IPPR think tank shows that 66 per cent of those asked believe that politicians are just “out for themselves”.
In May 2021, 57 per cent felt the same way. This nine-percentage-point increase took place over the course of 18 months, with the think tank pointing out that the last comparable rise took seven years, and the one before that took 42 years. All as a way of showing that trust in our politics is in “freefall”.
Chris Stevenson reports:
Gavin Williamson ‘clearly not suitable’ to be minister, says Keir Starmer
Gavin Williamson is “clearly not suitable” to be in government and his appointment shows just how “weak” Rishi Sunak is, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said.
The prime minister is under fire for bringing Mr Williamson back into the government despite being warned he was under investigation for allegedly bullying former chief whip Wendy Morton.
The minister has now been hit by fresh claims – accused of making a tacit threat by raising a sensitive issue about a female Tory MP’s private life.
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‘Shocking reality’: Food banks could close this winter because of energy bills
Food banks and other community groups could close or be dramatically cut back on what they offer this winter because of rising energy bills and decreasing donations, a report has warned.
Former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown and the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said the safety net offered by faith groups and other charities was badly “torn”.
“Even churches, which have selflessly offered their heated halls to help vulnerable people stay warm, know they will struggle to pay their own fuel bills,” they said in a forward to a report by Christian think tank Theos.
Adam Forrest reports:
PM has zero tolerance approach to bullying, says Downing Street
Downing Street said the Prime Minister has a zero tolerance approach to bullying inside government.
Asked if that is the case, the PM’s official spokesman said: “Yes.”
On whether Mr Sunak has spoken with either Sir Gavin Williamson or Wendy Morton since the matter came to light, he said he was “not aware” of any talks, but would not normally get into details of private conversations.
Gavin Williamson texts: Rishi Sunak says he has ‘full confidence’ in MP despite ‘unacceptable’ messages
Prime minister Rishi Sunak has expressed “full confidence” in cabinet minister Sir Gavin Williamson, despite describing messages he sent to a former chief whip as “not acceptable”.
Sir Gavin has voiced “regret” for the expletive-laden texts sent to Wendy Morton, complaining at his exclusion from the congregation for the funeral of the Queen.
But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer today said he was “clearly not suitable” for his job in the Cabinet Office, calling his appointment a sign of how “weak” Mr Sunak is.
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Rishi Sunak still has full confidence in Sir Gavin Williamson, following emergence of abusive texts
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak retains full confidence in Cabinet Office minister Sir Gavin Williamson following the emergence of threatening and abusive texts he sent to the former chief whip Wendy Morton, Downing Street had said.
Sir Keir Starmer has said that Sir Gavin Williamson is “clearly not suitable” for the job, calling his appointment a sign of how “weak” Rishi Sunak is.
The Prime Minister is under fire for bringing Sir Gavin back into the Government despite being warned he was under investigation for allegedly bullying former chief whip Wendy Morton.
During a visit to Imperial College London, the Labour leader told broadcasters: “It is so disappointing that yet again we’re having a discussion about the Prime Minister’s judgment, this time in relation to Gavin Williamson.
“He’s clearly got people around the Cabinet table who are not fit to be there. That is because he was so weak and wanted to avoid an election within his own party and I think the only way out of this, because these debates are going to go on because of the weak position the prime minister, is in, I think we should say to the public, they should have a choice – do you want to carry on with this chaos or do you want the stability of a Labour Government?”
Boris Johnson attacks ‘nonsense’ spouted by Tory net zero skeptics
Boris Johnson, who claimed to be “spirit of Glasgow Cop26,” attacked net zero sceptics in the Tory party during an event at the Cop27 summit in Egypt.
The former UK prime minister warned against a “corrosive cynicism” about the economic cost on action to bring down carbon emissions.
“There are people who have drawn the conclusion that the whole project of net zero needs to be delayed, mothballed and put on ice – that we need, for instance, to reopen coal-fired power stations and frack the hell out of the British countryside,” he said.
“We really need to tackle this nonsense head on,” said the former PM, who singled out his old Brexit ally David Frost for special criticism.
Referring to Lord Frost’s description of wind power as “medieval technology”, Mr Johnson said: “I would point out that burning oil is positively paleolithic.”
