Sir Gavin Williamson’s charge sheet was getting longer and the PM lost patience – the departure was inevitable
He had to go. It was inevitable. The charge sheet against Sir Gavin Williamson was getting longer, not just by the day, but by the hour.
It was impossible for him to survive, given the damage the bullying row was doing to Rishi Sunak.
Did he jump or was he pushed? Despite Sir Gavin claiming in his resignation letter that he had become a distraction, he was almost certainly pushed.
Reaction as Williamson forced out for third time – politics live
The prime minister who promised accountability and integrity on the day he succeeded Liz Truss had clearly decided enough was enough.
Earlier, Number 10 said Mr Sunak still had full confidence in Sir Gavin and believed his denials – but that was always too risky. Many Conservative MPs were questioning whether the damage to the prime minister was worth it.
It was always likely that Sir Gavin would go before this week’s prime minister’s questions.
Last week, Sir Keir Starmer tormented Mr Sunak with a powerful onslaught on his reappointment of Suella Braverman as home secretary six days after Ms Truss sacked her for a security breach.
The PM didn’t want a repeat of that sort of painful experience at his high noon with the Labour leader this week, especially since his appointment of Sir Gavin was arguably even more reckless than the home secretary’s swift return.
The charge sheet – which the former director of public prosecutions will no doubt read to the jury of public opinion at PMQs – begins with Sir Gavin’s abusive and threatening texts to former chief whip Wendy Morton about not being invited to the Queen’s funeral.
Laid bare in excruciating detail in The Sunday Times, they included the menacing: “Don’t forget I know how this works so don’t puss me about”, “let’s see how many more times you **** us all over”, and “there is a price for everything”.
Then on Monday, The Times reported that a government minister claimed that when Sir Gavin was chief whip, he raised details about her private life in a conversation in an attempt to silence her when she was on the backbenches.
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Sir Keir Starmer accused the prime minister of making a ‘grubby deal’ with Suella Braverman
Thirdly, The Guardian reported that a former senior civil servant claimed Sir Gavin told them to “slit your throat” and “jump out of the window” in a sustained campaign of bullying, in which he “deliberately demeaned and intimidated” them on a regular basis while he was defence secretary.
Ultimately, and crucially, that civil servant – after seeing the texts to Wendy Morton – turned up the heat on Sir Gavin by reporting his behaviour at the Ministry of Defence to the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS), the parliamentary watchdog, claiming his words and actions had an extreme impact on their mental health. That could be a slow process, however, as Ms Morton may also discover.
As chief whip, Sir Gavin revelled in his reputation as a menacing enforcer in the style of Michael Dobbs’ chief whip Francis Urquhart in House Of Cards. The real life chief whip even famously kept a tarantula called Cronus on his desk.
After the “slit your throat” allegation, as Downing Street and fellow ministers struggled to defend Sir Gavin, the most hilarious attempt at backing for him came from Mel Stride, the newly appointed work and pensions secretary.
“The reality with Cronus is he was much touted but he never actually was released to bite anybody,” he told Kay Burley on Sky News. Oh, that’s OK then.
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Mel Stride says the former defence secretary and his spider, Cronus, had a ‘mystique’ about them
Nicky Morgan, the former Tory cabinet minister, told a different story in a TV interview: “I had my run-ins with Gavin Williamson when he was Theresa May’s chief whip. None of this surprises me, sadly. This is a story that is going to keep on giving.”
That was always the case. And that was the problem for the prime minister. The consensus among MPs is that he only handed Sir Gavin his comeback as a reward for a political crony who helped him – eventually – win the Tory crown.
Another view among Tory MPs is that Sir Gavin’s post as minister of state in the Cabinet Office, sweetened by the perk of attending cabinet, was effectively a non-job with no departmental responsibilities.
In reality, though, he was in the Cabinet Office as an enforcer and fixer for the PM. It was the same job that cricket-loving Tory MP Sir Nigel Adams did for Boris Johnson.
And in a further example of cronyism, Sir Nigel has now been nominated for a peerage by Mr Johnson as a reward for batting for his old boss.
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Rishi Sunak promised to earn the trust of voters in his first speech as PM
One seemingly preposterous conspiracy theory being put about by allies of Sir Gavin is that the attempts to discredit him were all a plot by friends of the ousted Ms Truss.
The theory went that it was Sir Jake Berry, Tory chairman under Ms Truss and another close ally of Mr Johnson, who instigated an inquiry inside party HQ into Sir Gavin’s expletive-laden texts to Ms Morton.
However, Ms Morton – one of Ms Truss’s closest allies – has now escalated her bullying complaint, fearing a whitewash by the Conservative Party, it’s claimed. A whitewash in a bullying inquiry? What a suggestion!
Ms Morton has also referred Sir Gavin to the ICGS. But many in parliament regard the ICGS – set up after the so-called Pest-minster scandal – as useless and toothless.
Its latest annual report, published – conveniently – in the period between Ms Truss’s resignation and Mr Sunak becoming Tory leader – revealed that it took an average of 196 days to conclude an investigation.
That’s more than six months. Painfully and inexcusably slow. And talk to any Commons staffers who have accused an MP of bullying and they’ll also tell you the process is rigged in favour of the accused, not the accuser, and MPs are judge and jury in the process.
So for Sir Gavin, the bigger threat to his remaining in his Cabinet Office “non-job” than an ICGS investigation was always going to be the charge sheet against him getting even longer in the coming days.
Ominously for Sir Gavin, hours before his resignation Mr Sunak signalled he may not wait for the results of the two inquiries before acting.
That’s clearly what happened. His protector, the prime minister, obviously lost patience with him and decided to call time on Sir Gavin’s comeback.
Pope Francis died little more than half an hour after being taken ill, Vatican sources have told Sky News.
Pope Francis woke at 6am on Monday, and was fine for at least an hour, sources said, as they revealed details of the pontiff’s final moments.
Around 7am, the Vatican’s medical unit received an emergency call from his Casa Santa Marta apartment.
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Where will Pope Francis be buried?
Pope latest – Prince William to attend funeral
An urgent transfer to the Gemelli hospital, where he was treated for pneumonia earlier this year, was among the options considered.
A request for an urgent escort from the Vatican was received by Rome police after 7am, sources there said, but, given how quickly his condition worsened, it was cancelled by Vatican officials before 7.35am.
Francis died at the age of 88, a day after making his final public appearance at St Peter’s Square, where he greeted crowds on Easter Sunday, one of the most important days of the Christian calendar.
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First images of pope’s casket
The Vatican said he died from a stroke that led to a coma and irreversible heart failure.
He is currently lying in state in the Santa Marta Domus in a private viewing for Vatican residents and the papal household.
Francis will be laid to rest Saturday, the Vatican announced on Tuesday, after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects.
The funeral will take place outside, in the square in front of St Peter’s Basilica, and will start with a procession led by a priest carrying a cross, followed by the coffin and ordained clergy.
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‘Many were in tears, I was in tears’
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals, will lead the service. Nine days of mourning begin afterwards.
Unlike his predecessors, Francis will be buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (St Mary Major), as per his final burial wishes, announced on Monday.
The basilica is dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God, and is where Francis traditionally went to pray before and after foreign trips.
He will be the first pope to be buried outside the Vatican in more than a century.
In another change from tradition, he will be buried in a simple wooden casket, forgoing the centuries-old practice of burying the late pope in three interlocking caskets made of cypress, lead, and oak.
Prince William will attend the funeral on behalf of King Charles, Kensington Palace has said.
Cardinals will gather in a conclave to choose his successor afterwards.
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Francis was a champion of the deprived
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Francis, the first Jesuit and Latin American pontiff, had suffered from a chronic lung disease and had part of a lung removed as a young man.
Health issues plagued him throughout his later life, and he was admitted to Gemelli hospital in Rome on 14 February for a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia. He stayed at the hospital for 38 days before being released.
World
Kristi Noem: Top Trump official’s handbag – containing $3,000 in cash and security pass – stolen in burger restaurant
A bag belonging to the US Homeland Security Secretary was stolen on Sunday night – containing thousands of dollars in cash and an ID card that gives access to secure agency buildings.
Kristi Noem was eating at a Washington DC burger restaurant with family when a man in a face covering sat near her table and stole her purse, according to two people familiar with the theft.
Officials confirmed the theft to Sky News’ US partner NBC News on Monday.
The cabinet secretary was carrying $3,000 (£2,243) in cash because “her entire family was in town including her children and grandchildren”, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told NBC.
“She was using the withdrawal to treat her family to dinner, activities and Easter gifts.”
The purse contained her ID card. Reuters file pic
Just before 8pm, a man wearing an N-95 mask walked into the restaurant and up a few stairs to where Ms Noem was eating dinner.
He sat near her table and moved his chair close to hers before sliding her purse toward him with his foot, according to surveillance footage viewed by law enforcement, the sources said.
Within minutes, the man had Ms Noem’s purse under his jacket and walked out of the restaurant.
At least two on-duty members of the US Secret Service were in the restaurant – between Ms Noem and the front doors – according to a source who witnessed the meal.
They said the restaurant wasn’t very busy at the time.
The purse also contained credit cards, blank cheques, her passport, driver’s licence and a set of keys.
It’s unclear whether Ms Noem was specifically targeted – and investigators are looking into whether the man knew who the purse belonged to.
When asked about the incident, Ms Noem said: “I don’t think I can comment on it yet. It’s not resolved yet.”
She said the Secret Service was aware but said she hadn’t spoken to agency personnel about what happened.
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Ms Noem is a vocal supporter of Donald Trump’s policies of deporting undocumented immigrants and fortifying the US-Mexico border to slow illegal migration.
World
Starmer and Zelenskyy discuss ending Russia’s ‘brutal war’ – as Putin says says he is open to bilateral talks on longer ceasefire
Sir Keir Starmer and Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke about ending Russia’s “brutal war” on Ukraine in their latest phone call on Easter Monday, as Vladimir Putin said he was open to bilateral talks.
The prime minister and Ukrainian president spoke on Monday afternoon, when Sir Keir “reiterated his iron-clad support for Ukraine“.
A Downing Street spokesperson added that the prime minister “said that the UK supports Ukraine’s calls for Russia to commit to a full ceasefire and that now is the time for Putin to show he is serious about ending his brutal war”.
“They discussed the latest developments on the Coalition of the Willing, and looked forward to further progress towards a just and lasting peace,” the spokesperson added.
Mr Zelenskyy later said on social media that he had a “good and detailed conversation” with the prime minister, and added Ukrainian officials will be in London for talks on ending the war with Russia on Wednesday.
“We are ready to move forward as constructively as possible, just as we have done before, to achieve an unconditional ceasefire, followed by the establishment of a real and lasting peace,” he added.
The Ukrainian president added that the 30-hour Easter truce, which both Kyiv and Moscow accuse the other of violating, showed that Russia “are prolonging the war”.
It comes as Mr Putin proposed bilateral talks with Ukraine on a longer ceasefire, which would mark the first time Russia held such talks since a failed peace deal soon after the invasion in 2022.
Speaking to a state TV reporter, the Russian president said: “We always have a positive attitude towards a truce, which is why we came up with such an initiative (the Easter truce), especially since we are talking about the bright Easter days.”
When asked about Mr Zelenskyy’s calls to extend the 30-hour ceasefire into a 30-day pause on civilian targets, he added: “This is all a subject for careful study, perhaps even bilaterally. We do not rule this out.”
The Ukrainian president said on Sunday evening that the Russian army had “violated Putin’s ceasefire more than 2,000 times” during the day, and accused Russia of “failing” to “uphold its own promise of a ceasefire”.
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From Saturday: Why Putin offered an Easter truce?
It also comes after Donald Trump has said he hopes Russia and Ukraine “will make a deal this week,” after he and his secretary of state Marco Rubio warned that the US will walk away from efforts to broker a peace deal unless there are clear signs of progress soon.
The US president said on his Truth Social platform that both countries would “start to do big business” with the US after ending the war.
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Last month, Ukraine accepted Mr Trump’s proposal for a 30-day truce, but Mr Putin refused to back a full 30-day ceasefire, saying crucial issues of verification had not been sorted out.
He then said he would agree not to target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. However, both sides have accused each other of breaking the moratorium on attacks on energy targets and at sea.
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