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Under-fire minister Sir Gavin Williamson was facing fresh ‘bullying’ allegations tonight after a former colleague claimed he once boasted of ‘owning’ a Tory MP given financial help.
Ex-Conservative MP Anne Milton, who worked alongside Sir Gavin for almost a year in the Tory whips’ office between 2016 and 2017, claimed the 46-year-old ‘loved salacious gossip’ including about people’s ‘sexual preferences’.
She added Sir Gavin would use ‘salacious gossip’ as ‘leverage against MPs if the need arose’ when he was Tory chief whip.
The latest claims come as Sir Gavin – who was handed a Cabinet-level role by the Prime Minister last month – faces the prospect of three probes into his conduct.
Earlier today, Rishi Sunak repeated his ‘confidence’ in Sir Gavin despite claims the minister told a senior civil servant to ‘slit your throat’ and ‘jump out of a window’.
Sir Gavin has also been hit by a row over the expletive-laden text messages he sent to fellow MP Wendy Morton after he was excluded from the Queen’s funeral.
In an interview with Channel 4 News tonight, Ms Milton claimed Sir Gavin would use ‘salacious gossip’ as ‘leverage’ against Tory MPs when he was chief whip – a role that meant he was responsible for party discipline – in Theresa May’s government.
Ms Milton, who served as deputy chief whip at the time, said: ‘I got the impression that he loved salacious gossip and would use it as leverage against MPs if the need arose.’
Asked if any particular incidents stood out from her time working under Sir Gavin, she added: ‘There were a few – the salacious gossip, which I’ve talked about, people’s sexual preferences, that sort of thing.
‘He loved all that. He would come into the office and say: “Guess who enjoys some form of sex or another”.
‘I found it very distasteful apart from anything. He also, on one occasion, we had an MP who’d got a few financial problems, some financial help was given.
‘It wasn’t a great amount, but I do remember him asking me to give the MP in question the cheque.
‘And he waved it under my nose and said: “Make sure when you give him this cheque he knows that I now own him”.
‘I’m sure if you ask Gavin Williamson about this, he will say it was a joke. I don’t think it was a joke.’
Ms Milton also recalled an email sent by Sir Gavin in 2016 in response to a female civil servant’s inquiry about why a minister had to change travel plans to attend a vote.
‘Always tell them to f*** off and if they have the bollocks to come and see me. F****** jumped up civil servants,’ she claimed he sent to her in reply.
MailOnline has attempted to contact Sir Gavin about Ms Milton’s allegations.
Ms Milton was Conservative MP for Guildford between 2005 and 2019 but lost the Tory whip towards the end of her time in Parliament during the bitter Brexit battles in the House of Commons.
She subsequently stood as an independent candidate at the 2019 general election, but failed to hold onto her Surrey seat.
The latest claims come as Sir Gavin Williamson – who was handed a Cabinet-level role by the Prime Minister last month – faces the prospect of three probes into his conduct
Ex-Conservative MP Anne Milton, who worked alongside Sir Gavin for almost a year in the Tory whips’ office between 2016 and 2017, claimed the 46-year-old ‘loved salacious gossip’ including about people’s ‘sexual preferences’
This morning, the PM held a Cabinet meeting in Downing Street with Sir Gavin is believed to have used a back route to get to the Cabinet Room in No10 as he faces a ‘bullying’ storm.
His alleged ‘slit your throat’ comment was made in front of other shocked civil servants during a meeting when Sir Gavin was Defence Secretary between 2017 and 2019, an official told The Guardian.
The ‘jump out of a window’ remark was made on a separate occasion, they alleged.
The official, who later left government, said they reported the behaviour to the MoD’s head of human resources, but did not make a formal complaint.
The MoD official claimed Sir Gavin ‘shouted and raged’, and a senior military official from the department later apologised for not calling out the now Cabinet Office minister.
Sir Gavin denied bullying the official but did not appear to deny using the specific words.
The PM’s official spokesman insisted the minister retained his confidence and Mr Sunak believed the denial, but said they were checking the ‘proper processes’ to follow.
It is understood that discussions are ongoing in Downing Street over whether and how the issue should be examined. There has yet to be a formal complaint, but the Propriety and Ethics Team could take charge of a probe.
Sir Gavin is already facing an investigation by CCHQ into allegations he sent expletive-laden texts to then-chief whip Ms Morton about attending the Queen’s funeral.
Ms Morton’s case is also believed to have been referred to the Parliamentary authorities.
In a round of interviews this morning, Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride said it would be ‘utterly, utterly unacceptable’ if Sir Gavin Williamson told a senior civil servant to ‘slit your throat’ and ‘jump out of the window’.
Mr Stride told Sky News: ‘If that is the case, that is utterly, utterly unacceptable, but at the moment it is in the realm of media speculation.’
Mr Stride said he served in the Whips’ Office under Sir Gavin, and saw him as someone with ‘this sort of aura or mystique around him’.
‘There was always this great aura of… do you remember Cronus, the spider, the tarantula etc? And the reality with Cronus is he was much touted but he never actually was released to bite anybody.
‘So that was how I always saw Gavin – as somebody who had this sort of aura or mystique around him, but the reality was he just generally got on with his job.’
A Ministry of Defence official alleged that Sir Gavin Williamson (pictured yesterday) ‘deliberately demeaned and intimidated’ them regularly when he was defence secretary
Home Secretary Suella Braverman (right) and Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove smiled for photographers near No10
Nadhim Zahawi (right) and Lord True (left) leaving Downing Street after the Cabinet meeting today
Grant Shapps (left) and Ben Wallace (right) arriving for the Cabinet meeting this morning
Deputy PM Dominic Raab was also in Downing Street as Mr Sunak assembled his senior team for their weekly meeting
There are signs that the rows over Mr Williamson, Suella Braverman and Channel migrants have been pouring cold water on the initial poll bounce for Mr Sunak
Sir Gavin said in a statement: ‘I strongly reject this allegation and have enjoyed good working relationships with the many brilliant officials I have worked with across government.
‘No specific allegations have ever been brought to my attention.’
A Cabinet Office spokesman said: ‘The Cabinet Office has not received notice of any formal complaints about Gavin Williamson’s behaviour from his time at the Ministry of Defence or any other department.’
The allegation was revealed after Downing Street insisted Rishi Sunak retains full confidence in Sir Gavin despite a female MP accusing Sir Gavin of raising sensitive details about her private life in an attempt to silence her.
The MP alleges that when Sir Gavin was chief whip in 2016, he raised an issue about her private life at a time when she was campaigning on a difficult issue for the Government, according to The Times.
It is the latest claim to surface just days after abusive messages Sir Gavin sent to Ms Morton were revealed.
No10 said Mr Sunak will allow the complaints process to run its course before deciding whether to act.
Yesterday senior Tories criticised Sir Gavin, with Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross saying he would sack any of his frontbenchers who used the sort of language in the messages.
In the expletive-laden texts to Mrs Morton Sir Gavin accused her of using the Queen’s death to ‘punish’ senior MPs who were out of favour with Liz Truss by excluding them from the funeral’s guest list.
In one, he wrote: ‘Let’s see how many more times you f*** us all over. There is a price for everything.’
Anne Milton, a former Tory MP who served as deputy chief whip under Sir Gavin, said: ‘The use of information as leverage against MPs has no place in modern politics. I am surprised he was appointed as a minister.’
Downing Street has insisted Rishi Sunak (pictured during the Cop27 summit yesterday) retains full confidence in Sir Gavin
Sir Gavin is already facing an investigation into allegations he sent expletive-laden texts to then-chief whip Wendy Morton about attending the Queen’s funeral
Yesterday Mr Sunak said: ‘I’ve been very clear that language is not right, it’s not acceptable.
‘And that’s why I welcome the fact that Gavin Williamson has expressed regret about that and now we wait to see what the investigation says.’
Mr Stride told Sky News: ‘There is an independent inquiry, as you know, going on around another… alleged incident between himself and the then-chief whip Wendy Morton.
‘I think the important thing we do now is not to start intervening… and opining on who’s right and wrong or what may or may not have happened, but to wait for the results of that investigation.
‘And then when we have that, and any other investigation that may be triggered in the meantime, then I think we can take stock and come to a firm conclusion.’
Asked who will carry out the investigation, Mr Stride said: ‘The independent parliamentary authorities.
‘The complaint, as I understand it, was made by Wendy Morton about Sir Gavin Williamson… at that point it was a party matter because it was made to the Conservative Party central office, and so it will go through that process but it will be independent, and it will be thorough, and it will come to a firm conclusion.’
It comes as it emerged that Sir Gavin has failed in his bid to stop his constituency being carved up – potentially leaving him struggling to be selected to stand at the next election.
The Boundary Commission for England’s revised proposals published today would see the county of Staffordshire go from 12 to 11 MPs.
Sir Gavin’s South Staffordshire seat is set to merge with part of South Dudley, currently held by Tory MP Mike Wood.
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