Hot on the heels of Rishi Sunak’s swift re-appointment of Suella Braverman, a mere six days after she was sacked for sharing sensitive documents, Gavin Williamson has resigned following claims by a senior civil servant that he told them to “slit your throat” in an alleged period of sustained bullying, according to reports in The Guardian.
Sunak stood by Braverman after serious security lapses when she sent sensitive government information from her personal email address to a fellow MP, in what constituted “multiple breaches” of the Ministerial Code. As a result, she will now receive specific training from the very security services she is now in charge of overseeing on how to deal with confidential information in the future. You couldn’t make it up.
Braverman was obviously so useful to Sunak that he has stood by her despite her breaking multiple rules. Her return led to allegations by Keir Starmer of a “grubby deal” being made between the two. Williamson clearly didn’t serve the same strategic purpose for Sunak, or at least didn’t know where the skeletons were buried. A litany of negative news stories which appeared on the back of the bullying allegations suggested that a significant number of Tories in the parliamentary party wanted him out.
Williamson’s appointment as Minister without Portfolio was already in question, after it emerged that he had sent a series of threatening and abusive texts to then-chief whip, Wendy Morton, at the time of the Queen’s funeral, complaining that he had been deliberately excluded from the Queen’s funeral. Sunak has now conceded that it was a mistake to bring Williamson back.
Testing Rishi Sunak’s pledge to have integrity
This is the just latest incident which tests Sunak’s pledge to “have integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level” inside Downing Street. So far, we haven’t seen much “professionalism” or “integrity” on display and Sunak’s authority is severely undermined by the lack of integrity he has shown so far.
Not only did he reappoint Braverman, Sunak also reinstated Robert Jenrick as Immigration Minister, who was removed from post after being caught in the sleaze scandal involving notorious newspaper owner and former pornographer Richard Desmond. And now back to Williamson, who was previously sacked by Theresa May for leaking national security secrets. There’s a bit of a pattern emerging here.
— Gavin Williamson (@GavinWilliamson) November 8, 2022
Sunak then allowed Williamson to resign rather than sacking him immediately. This is not the behaviour of a man intent on earning our trust or repairing the mistakes of his predecessors, as he promised the country on taking office.
Braverman may yet be expendable. She isn’t a popular figure inside or outside of government and her manner is less than polished. Numerous accusations have arisen about the conditions in immigration detention centres and asylum accommodation under her brief.
Suella Braverman caused outrage
The Refugee Council demanded that urgent action be taken on Manston immigration processing centre in Kent, after concerns were raised about overcrowding and the spread of serious health issues amongst asylum seekers. The site is now allegedly back to a safe occupancy level of 1,600 people after reaching a high of 4,000 last week but question marks over conditions remain. It has been alleged that Braverman ignored legal advice from her own office that people were being held at the Manston site for too long and needed to be moved urgently.
Braverman caused further outrage and was accused of inflammatory rhetoric by describing small boats crossing the English Channel as an “invasion”. Her widely condemned comments came just a day after a detention centre in Dover was petrol bombed by a far-right extremist. Since then, protests have broken out in Harmondsworth detention centre in north west London, where people from Manston were supposed to be relocated. Braverman’s authority looks tenuous to say the least.
But regardless of whether or not Sunak decides to stand by his Braverman, his promise to lead with integrity and accountability appears to be irreparably broken. Far from making a clean break from the lies and incompetence of the Johnson and Liz Truss eras, Sunak’s Government already seems to be on a desperately bumpy road of untruths and deception. Sunak’s own lack of integrity paves the way for his ministers to deceive their way through government.
Donna McLean is originally from Ayrshire and is a mum of twins, writer and activist
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