Gavin Williamson told chief whip ‘you f*** us all over’ in angry texts as minister faces probe over bullying

Sir Gavin Williamson told the former chief whip “you f*** us all over” in angry texts after being excluded from the Queen’s funeral

The Cabinet minister is facing an investigation over a series of abusive and threatening messages sent to the then Tory chief whip complaining about not being invited to the royal funeral.

Sir Gavin, who was a backbencher at the time, accused Wendy Morton of using the death of the monarch to “punish” senior MPs who were out of favour with Liz Truss’s government.

The exchange of messages, 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.”

The paper said the then party chairman, Sir Jake Berry, informed prime minister Rishi Sunak the day before he entered No 10 that Ms Morton had submitted a formal complaint to the party about Sir Gavin’s conduct.

Both Sir Jake and Ms Morton lost their jobs in the ensuing reshuffle while Sir Gavin – a former chief whip and a supporter of Mr Sunak – returned to government.

In the messages, Sir Gavin complained it was “very poor” that privy councillors – senior politicians who formally advise the monarch – who “aren’t favoured” have been excluded from the funeral at Westminster Abbey.

Ms Morton repeatedly insisted that his claims were unfounded and that the government had been allocated an “extremely limited” number of tickets, most of which went to members of the Cabinet.

Mr Williamson retorted: “Well certainly looks it which think is very shit and perception becomes reality. Also don’t forget I know how this works so don’t puss (sic) me about.

“It’s very clear how you are going to treat a number of us which is very stupid and you are showing f*** all interest in pulling things together.

“Also this shows exactly how you have rigged it is is (sic) disgusting you are using her death to punish people who are just supportive, absolutely disgusting.”

“Well let’s see how many more times you f*** us all over. There is a price for everything.”

Sir Jake told the paper that he was informed by the Conservative Party chief executive on October 24 that a complaint had been made against Sir Gavin regarding allegations of “bullying and intimidation of parliamentary colleagues”.

“In compliance with protocol, in my capacity as party chairman, I informed both the new Prime Minister and his incoming chief of staff about the complaint on the same day,” he said.

According to The Sunday Times, Mr Sunak did not recall the “specifics” of their conversation.

Sir Gavin was made a privy councillor and awarded a knighthood by Boris Johnson when he was prime minister earlier this year.

He is, however, viewed with suspicion by many Tory MPs because of his reputation as an inveterate plotter.

He was sacked first by Theresa May as defence secretary for leaking details of a national security council meeting and then by Mr Johnson as education secretary over the Covid-19 A-levels debacle.

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said Mr Sunak’s decision to bring Sir Gavin back into government called his judgment into question.

Xural.com