He was found to have engaged in "offensive and intimidating behaviour"
The former education secretary Gavin Williamson has been found by a parliamentary panel to have breached Westminster’s bullying and harassment policy. As a result, he has been instructed to apologise to the House of Commons and undergo training.
The Independent Expert Panel found Williamson had bullied Wendy Morton MP in September 2022 when he was chief whip. The incident relates to an exchange of text messages relating to him not being allocated tickets to the Queen’s funeral.
The panel found that the texts constitute “offensive and intimidating behaviour”, and that Williamson’s conduct was an abuse of power. The panel also said that the behaviour went beyond political disagreement and strayed into a threat to lever his power and authority as former chief whip to undermine Morton.
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
Image credit: Number 10 – Creative Commons
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