Is it time for Gavin Williamson to ‘go away and shut up’?

Threats are not as prevalent as they were, says Sean O’Grady

Moi? Gavin Williamson’s behaviour is benign by the standards of some of his predecessors (Reuters)

Although not to excuse Gavin Williamson’s abusive comments to colleagues, even a few years ago his remarks would have been unremarkable and as such would have gone completely undisclosed and unreported; certainly in Williamson’s own time as chief whip (2016/17, secured as a reward for services rendered to Theresa May in winning the party leadership).

His text messages seem to have been a rather vulgar attempt to bag himself a ticket to the funeral of Elizabeth II, a woman who may have been acquainted with Williamson but who went about her duties in a more dignified manner. He made the mistake of putting his unreasonable demands in writing, to the now-departed chief whip, Wendy Morton.

A separate allegation has now surfaced that Williamson, as chief whip, threatened a female colleague with disclosure of private information if she did not do as she was told. She has turned anonymous whistleblower, adding to Williamson’s woes; he’s now under investigation, which means there’s a chance he’ll have to step down as minister without portfolio.. If so, then Sunak will be the third prime minister to have dispensed with his services, something of a record. May was forced to ask for his resignation when it emerged that he’d been leaking information to the press about a Cobra meeting he’d attended as defence secretary. Boris Johnson let him go after a series of exam fiascos during the pandemic, admittedly a harsh rap. And now Sunak may follow suit.

Unlike Braverman and a few others who are probably not natural Sunak allies, Williamson has no great following of his own but he has earned a formidable reputation as a machine politician with a taste for vengeance. He knows where the bodies are buried and the darker secrets of his colleagues. Even without his pet tarantula, he cuts a frightening figure. Sunak, not in the most secure of positions, would probably want to keep Williamson on board in some role, on the Lyndon Johnson principle that he’d rather have Gavin inside the tent.

It has to be said that Williamson was probably a less brutal operator than many of his predecessors, and MPs never used to disclose their “conversations” with whips. But in recent years society has changed, and behaviour in parliament has had to move with the times. One of Williamson’s more recent successors, Mark Spencer, had to defend himself when Nusrat Ghani, fired as a transport minister in a February 2020 reshuffle alleged that she was told by a whip that her “Muslimness was raised as an issue”. She says she was informed that her faith was “making colleagues feel uncomfortable”. The Commons is far from a model HR environment; but it is evolving, in particular as more women have become members.

The whips’ offices of both parties have apparently given up compiling incriminating evidence of personal peccadillos to be used as a last resort in tight, important votes. But once upon a time the shame of being outed as gay in the Sunday papers by your own colleagues, or for unwise links with dodgy businesspeople, was sufficient to persuade even the most stubborn backbencher into the “correct” lobby.

Some MPs were beyond such threats. Some others were also immune to the bribes that come with patronage – knighthoods, such as Sir Gavin’s own, peerages, sinecures on quangos, “trade emissary” roles in the Caribbean and so on. One charming story about Jeremy Corbyn dating back to the Blair era had a whip calling Corbyn unexpectedly at home on a Sunday evening “just to make sure” that they were right in thinking he’d be voting against the Labour government the coming week, as per usual. Jeremy reassured him that thus would indeed be the case.

Usually, whips use political arguments, rather than the threat of deselection, to make their case and physical force has gone out of fashion. The speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, recently ordered an inquiry into claims by Chris Bryant that members had been bullied and intimidated in the division lobbies, on a chaotic night that saw the temporary resignation of the government chief whip (Morton) and her deputy. The speaker ruled there was no case – but who knows if that is because of further quiet “persuasion”.

We probably won’t see a repeat of the tactics used by Walter Harrison, notorious deputy Labour chief whip in the 1970s and 1980s. The young Jack Straw, soon after his election in 1979, was once discussing the affairs of the moment with Harrison when the elder statesman grasped Straw’s testes in a vice-like grip. Straw begged to know what he’d done wrong. “Nowt,” responded. “. But think what I’d do if you crossed me.” It does make Williamson look rather benign.