Gavin Williamson: Calls for investigation after minister says PM knew of bullying claim

Ed Miliband, the party's shadow climate secretary against a "cover-up" or a "whitewash" over allegations relating to the South Staffordshire MP after a senior Conservative said the Prime Minister was aware of a complaint about Sir Gavin when he made him a Cabinet Office minister.

Sir Gavin is facing an investigation over a series of messages sent to then-Tory chief whip Wendy Morton - MP for Aldridge-Brownhills - complaining he had not been invited to the Queen's funeral.

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.”

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.

Mrs 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.

The paper also disclosed that then-party chairman Sir Jake Berry informed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that Mrs Morton had complained about a series of texts sent to her by Sir Gavin.

Oliver Dowden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, confirmed that Mr Sunak had been aware of the complaint when he gave Sir Gavin a government role, but said he had not known the details of the exchanges.

Mr Dowden told Sky News's Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: "As you have seen from the former chairman Jake Berry, he says that he highlighted that to the Prime Minister.

"But in terms of the specific allegations, the specific exchange, the Prime Minister wasn't aware of it until last night."

He admitted the PM was aware that Sir Gavin had a "difficult relationship" with Mrs Morton, who was chief whip under Liz Truss.

"I don't think it was any secret that Gavin Williamson and other backbenchers had a difficult relationship with the chief whip," Mr Dowden continued.

"He (Mr Sunak) was aware that there was a difficult relationship between the chief whip and a number of backbenchers, of which Gavin Williamson was one."

He said that Sir Gavin regretted sending the messages to Ms Morton at what had been a "difficult time" for the Conservative Party.

"These were sent in the heat of the moment expressing frustration. It was a difficult time for the party. He now accepts that he shouldn't have done it and he regrets doing so," Mr Dowden said.

"Thankfully we are in a better place now as a party."

Asked if Mr Sunak had confidence in Sir Gavin, Mr Dowden said: "Of course the Prime Minister continues to have confidence in Gavin Williamson."

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.

However Labour frontbencher Ed Miliand has called for an independent investigation into Mr Williamson's appointment as a Cabinet Office minister.

Mr Miliband told Sky News: "These are incredibly serious issues and I think it really calls into question Rishi Sunak's judgment and the way he made decisions about his Cabinet.

"We already know about the whole Suella Braverman issue: being reappointed six days after she resigned.

"It was very noticeable... that Oliver Dowden couldn't deny that Rishi Sunak knew about those issues to do with potential bullying against Wendy Morton, the chief whip, by Gavin Williamson and yet he reappointed him.

"What it says is that Rishi Sunak was making decisions simply in his own narrow short-term interest as far as the Conservative Party leadership was concerned, not the national interest, and there needs to be an urgent independent investigation into exactly what happened. We can't have a cover-up, we can't have a whitewash here.

"What did Rishi Sunak know? When did he know it? What did Gavin Williamson do and what are the implications of that?"