Scarborough-born MP Sir Gavin Williamson to be investigated over abusive messages

The former Education Secretary was recently appointed a minister without portfolio in the new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Cabinet Office.

He is now under fire after a series of texts to the former Tory chief whip were leaked. The messages themselves were sent on September 13 to Liz Truss’ chief whip, and have been deemed abusive. The text messages were sent to Wendy Morton and accused her 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 the Scarborough-born MP 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.

This afternoon, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman has said that Rishi Sunak has full confidence in Gavin Williamson.

In the text message exchange, shared on Twitter by The Guardian’s political editor, Sir Gavin Williamson states that he thinks it is “very poor” that privy councillors who “aren’t favoured” were excluded from the monarch’s funeral. Ms Morton then assures him that this wasn’t the case, to which the minister replied “Well certainly looks it which think is very s*** and perception becomes reality. Also don’t forget I know how this works so don’t puss (sic) me about.” Ms Morton then further reassures the Tory MP, by telling him the allocated places were “extremely limited”. Sir Gavin Williamson replies: “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 Gavin was Education Secretary between July 2019 and September 2021 and is known for being in charge around the controversy of the GCSE and A-Level exams fiasco in 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He was sacked after widespread criticism of his role in the matter. In 2019, he was sacked as Defence Secretary following an inquiry into a leak from the National Security Council.

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.

Sir Gavin told The Sunday Times: “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.”