Echoes of Hague’s drone as new boy reports for duty
DEFENCE Secretary Williamson, reporting for duty, sah! Gavin Williamson, aged not much more than 30 (so you’d think from looking at him), is indeed our new Secretary of State for Defence and made his despatch box debut yesterday.
It was the first time the 41-year old had spoken from the front bench, for in his past governmental duties – as David Cameron’s parliamentary bag-carrier and as Mrs May’s Chief Whip – he did not have to answer MPs’ questions in public.
This was quite a test, in other words. Could he project authority and ‘ bottom’? Would he be any good?
He is slender, a hint of pepper-and-salt at the temples of his tight-mown hair, the toecaps of his black shoes shiny. He stood at the box with a stoop, his shoulders slight. The eyes were steady but the voice was more striking. It was nasal, a Yorkshire monotone, echoes of William Hague or maybe the young Alan Bennett.
He pronounced ‘discuss’ as ‘discoos’, for instance. The accent manifested itself with only a few vowels. More of the time he was Midlandsmanagerial; yet he is the first Tory Defence Secretary I can recall who pronounces the first letter of ‘HMS’ as ‘Haitch’.
The Queen will no doubt mask her reflexes but we must hope it does not become a Buckingham Palace game to get the new Defence Secretary to say his haitches.
THE Commons day began with congratulations for Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan. These were uttered with Heepish unction by Speaker Bercow, juddering his consonants. Labour MPs managed not to join the ‘ hear hears’ which resounded from the Tory benches.
Mr Williamson’s first question came from a Scots Nat, Gavin Newlands (Paisley & Renfrewshire N) who is hard to understand because he barely moves his upper lip when talking. Was he a ventriloquist in earlier life? I did catch the words ‘ Russian submarines’ in his question, so it must have been about the Red Peril.
There is such fever about the Ruskies at present, some media types will no doubt be soon suggesting that Moscow’s subs are lying off the Pool of London waiting to whisk Agents Gove and Boris to safety, should it all become too hot for ’em here.
Mr Williamson, in his reply, spoke about the nuclear deterrent. Alan Titchmarsh on next year’s aspidistras might have sounded more frightening.
He was soon compensating for any shortfall in dramatic delivery by attacking Jeremy Corbyn as a Labour leader ‘who does not believe in the British Army’.
But does the May Government believe in our Army? Or does it want to reduce its numbers? Conservative backbenchers made plain that they hated that idea. The likes of James Gray (Con, N Wilts) and Mark Francois (Rayleigh & Wickford) harrumphed impressively on that matter. Sir Hugo Swire (Con, E Devon) suggested taking the nuclear deterrent off the MoD’s annual budget, as used to be the case. Not a bad thought, though of course Trident would still have to be paid for. Perhaps it can be stuck down as an item of expenditure for International Aid. Keeping all those US munitions workers in jobs, etc.
Mr Williamson was noticeably warm towards Conservatives who wanted the Treasury to spend more on Defence.
That will do him no harm until the time the Treasury swings the axe, as it invariably does.
One Defence minister who has reportedly threatened to quit if there are heavy cuts is Tobias Ellwood. He was on the front bench yesterday. When he and Mr Williamson were beside one another, any untutored outsider might have had trouble telling which of them was the more senior. Mr Ellwood oozes command. He has the bearing of a military commander. He does not say the word ‘everything’ with a final ‘k’, as Mr Williamson does. Such things may count for little in Whitehall but they do matter a bit on the Commons parade ground.
Should she perhaps have made Tobias Secretary of State?