Cabinet minister Gavin Williamson has been accused of making a tacit threat by raising a sensitive issue about a female Tory MP’s private life in a meeting.
A fellow Tory minister is said to have claimed that Mr Williamson mentioned an issue about her private life in 2016 in a bid to silence her when he was chief whip and she was a backbencher.
The MP – who was campaigning on an issue causing problems for the government at the time – interpretated the conversation as a threat, according to The Times.
Allies of Mr Williamson denied any threat, telling the newspaper he had only raised the personal issue in “pastoral capacity” as chief whip at the time.
But the MP has raised the matter with the Conservative party, following the row over the WhatsApp messages Mr Williamson sent to ex-chief whip Wendy Morton in which he claimed she had tried to “f*** us all over”.
Rishi Sunak has said abusive texts sent by Mr Williamson to a colleague were “not acceptable or right”, as the prime minister insisted that he had been aware of a “disagreement” – but not the details of the exchange.
Business secretary Grant Shapps said Mr Williamson was not “right” to send a series of angry texts to a colleague – calling them “completely inappropriate”.
“I don’t think it was the right thing to do, to send messages like that. I see they must have been sent in a moment of frustration.” he told Sky News.
Mr Shapps said it was better to write things “which you would not live to regret later”, adding: “It’s important we don’t write things we regret in the cold light of day.”
Asked about the fresh claim of a “tacit threat”, Mr Shapps told Times Radio: “If there are further allegations those would have to be taken seriously – but I do think it’s important that a proper process is followed rather than jumping to conclusions.”
Nadine Dorries said she would rather see Mr Sunak “rap” Williamson for “sending bullying text messages to a female colleague” than criticise Matt Hancock for going on a ITV reality TV show.
“Bullying is NOT excusable,” the former culture secretary tweeted, referring to the latest allegation to hit Mr Williamson.
Mr Sunak said he was “very disappointed” in Mr Hancock for joining I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! because “MPs should be working hard for their constituents”.
But the PM remains under fire for bringing Sir Gavin back into the government despite being warned that he was under investigation for allegedly bullying former chief whip Wendy Morton.
Sir Jake told the paper that he was informed by the Conservative Party chief executive on October 24 – the day before Mr Sunak formally took office – that a formal complaint had been made against Sir Gavin.
Cabinet Office minister Oliver Dowden – one of Mr Sunak’s closest allies – insisted that the PM still had confidence in Sir Gavin, who is now a minister without portfolio in the Cabinet Office.
In his messages to Ms Morton, Sir Gavin angrily accused her of 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, obtained by the Sunday Times, concluded with him saying: “Well let’s see how many more times you f*** us all over. There is a price for everything.”
Mr Williamson has said: “I, of course, regret getting frustrated about the way colleagues and I felt we were being treated. I am happy to speak with Wendy and I hope to work positively with her in the future as I have in the past.”
