Old office affair rears its head for Williamson
Former colleagues dispute Defence Secretary’s claim of ‘amicable’ departure from fireplace company
GAVIN WILLIAMSON, the Defence Secretary, faces questions about the circumstances of his departure from a previous job after it emerged he had an office romance that put his marriage under threat.
Mr Williamson told a newspaper that after he and the married colleague became close and “shared a kiss”, he decided to leave his job and left the firm on “amicable terms”.
However, his account has been disputed by former colleagues, who say the circumstances of his departure were not as straightforward as he claims.
Two sources have told The Daily Telegraph that Mr Williamson left the firm after the relationship was discussed with managers at the fireplace manufacturer Elgin & Hall in 2004.
He is understood not to have previously referred to his time at the firm on his published CV, but says he did inform the Conservative Party of his relationship with the unnamed woman before being selected as a prospective MP. Mr Williamson gave his account of the episode to the Daily Mail after learning that journalists from The Guardian were looking into his past. The Guardian last night published a series of questions that they had asked Mr Williamson on Thursday, which centred on the circumstances around him leaving the fireplace company.
The Defence Secretary, who was promoted to the post after his predecessor, Sir Michael Fallon, was accused of inappropriate conduct, said he “almost threw away” his marriage to his wife, Joanne. He said that the fling with the unnamed co-worker had not gone beyond kissing a “couple of times”, and
‘Given those difficulties, I left my employment selling fireplaces almost immediately’
that admitting the relationship to his wife had been one of the most difficult conversations of his life, but that she had forgiven him.
He said: “I had a good relationship with everyone I worked with, but with one person this started to develop into something more.
“We had to travel together and spent a lot of time in each other’s company, the relationship became flirtatious and a couple of times we shared a kiss. It never went further than that, but this had a profound impact on us both and those close to us. It was a dreadful mistake and stopped as suddenly as it had started.” Describing how he left the firm, he said: “Going back to work afterwards it could never feel the same, as every day would remind me that I had let down the person I love more than anything. Given those difficulties, I left my employment selling fireplaces almost immediately. My employer was understanding and we parted on amicable terms.”
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source said the relationship had deteriorated and the woman eventually provided information to her employer about the situation. Mr Williamson left the company shortly afterwards.
Sir Michael resigned as defence secretary in November amid the Westminster sexual harassment scandal, saying his conduct had “fallen short” of the standards expected by the military.
Mr Williamson, the MP for South Staffordshire, is viewed as a potential future Tory leadership candidate. He was selected by Theresa May as her parliamentary campaign manager for the leadership contest two years ago. ♦the Russian military yesterday dismissed Mr Williamson’s comments about its capabilities to damage Britain’s infrastructure as “like something from Monty Python”. Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian defence ministry, said: “The minister’s fear of Russia photographing electric power plants or studying the routes of British gas pipelines is like something out of a children’s comic.”