Outsider with his sights zeroed in on No10

JUST a month ago the idea of Gavin Williamson succeeding Theresa May if, as many expect, she stands down as Prime Minister after Britain leaves the EU in March 2019, would have been dismissed as a joke.

Few had heard of him until he replaced Defence Secretary Michael Fallon who was forced to resign last month over sexual harassment claims.

But the moment Williamson got his feet under his MoD desk he launched a one-man publicity blitz: he picked a public fight with Chancellor Philip Hammond over defence cuts, saved two military dogs from being put down and last week said all Britons who had fought for ISIS should be killed.

Those who scoffed at the idea that Williamson plans a late run for the Tory leadership post-March 2019 have been forced to reconsider. On the face of it, it’s an unlikely scenario: a 40-something Tory MP with a state school background, nasal whiney voice, seen as a ‘grey’ nonentity, best known for plotting in the Whips office, wins the confidence of a female PM reaching the end of her Downing Street reign, gets massive globalrole Cabinet promotion from her and, 16 months later, beats the charismatic, but flawed blond Tory heartthrob seen as destined for greatness.

I am not referring to how Gavin Williamson might beat Boris Johnson in the race to succeed Mrs May in 2019, but how Sir John Major beat Michael Heseltine in the race to succeed Margaret Thatcher in 1990. The parallels are intriguing. Major was 45 when Thatcher, desperate to find an alternative heir to her pro-EU Tory foe Heseltine, plucked him from relative obscurity to make him Foreign Secretary in July 1989.

Major made his Tory reputation as a Whip and was derided by snobbish colleagues for his flat South London vowels, state school education and accountant’s background.

But he wooed Mrs Thatcher and, when she was forced to resign in November 1990, her support helped him pull off a surprise victory. He defeated Heseltine, known for his flowing blond locks and flamboyant temperament.

In the eyes of some Conservative grandees, Williamson, 41, is as much of a Tory ‘outsider’ as Major. He went to a comprehensive school, ran a pottery company before entering Parliament and, until his MoD move, was the Party’s Chief Whip. Despite having been David Cameron’s Commons aide, he switched his allegiance to Mrs May and quickly became a member of No 10’s inner circle.

Her decision to grant his plea to make him Defence Secretary last month was as big as surprise as Thatcher giving Major the Foreign Office out of the blue nearly 30 years ago. Just as Major was mocked for supposedly tucking his shirt inside his underpants and lacking the elan to be Britain’s premier diplomat, skinny Williamson has had to fend off jibes from Tory critics that he is like ‘Pike’ in the Dad’s Army TV series.

But, like Major, wily Williamson is a man in a hurry and is winning support on the Tory backbenches and sections of the media with his populist utterances.

Johnson shares Heseltine’s flair and brilliance, but as with Hezza, there will always be a hard core of Tories unwilling to entrust gaffe-prone Boris with the keys to No 10.

If there is someone less exciting, but with down-to-earth roots, who has the support of a much-loved outgoing leader and can be presented as a votewinning ‘break with the past’, they could win – just like Major.

The signs are Williamson has made the same calculation.

We may find out in March 2019. It is only 15 months away.

Astonishing echoes of John Major’s rise to power