Rishi Sunak has 'full confidence' in Gavin Williamson despite being investigated over abusive texts

7 November 2022, 13:46 | Updated: 7 November 2022, 13:48

Rishi Sunak is standing by under-fire minister Gavin Williamson despite being investigated over abusive texts 'bullying' MP.

The Prime Minister is under growing pressure to fire Mr Williamson after the threatening and abusive texts emerged.

Mr Sunak had been warned the former education secretary was under investigation for allegedly bullying Wendy Morton but still brought him back into the Government.

His spokesperson said on Monday that "he thinks he has an important contribution to make to Government".

Read more: Sunak under fire for bringing Gavin Williamson back into Govt despite warnings he was under investigation for 'bullying'

Read more: Gavin Williamson investigated over expletive-filled messages after he wasn’t invited to the Queen’s funeral

In a series of angry texts, uncovered by the Times, Sir Gavin angrily accused Ms Morton of seeking to "punish" MPs like him who were out of favour with then-premier Liz Truss by excluding them from the Queen's funeral.

Ms 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.

Mr Williamson retorted: "Well certainly looks it which think is very shit and perception becomes reality. Also don't forget I know how this works so don't puss (sic) me about.

"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."

Asked if Mr Sunak has full confidence in the Cabinet Office minister, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "Yes."

Pressed on why the Prime Minister gave Sir Gavin a job, Mr Sunak's spokesman added: "Obviously he thinks he has an important contribution to make to Government."

On whether Mr Sunak has spoken with either Sir Gavin or Ms Morton since the matter came to light, the Prime Minister's spokesman said he was "not aware" of any talks, but would not normally get into details of private conversations.

Mr Sunak previously said the messages were not "not acceptable or right", while Cabinet minister Grant Shapps earlier echoed this sentiment - describing the correspondence as "completely inappropriate".

Meanwhile, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Sir Gavin is "clearly not suitable" for the job, and claimed Mr Sunak was "weak" to appoint him.

But the Prime Minister has clarified that while he was aware of a "disagreement", he did not know the details of the exchange at the time he brought Sir Gavin back into Government.