Crisis after crisis as May battles on
Harassment scandal and Brexit negotiations likely to keep pressure on PM
British Prime Minister Theresa May bought herself breathing space yesterday as she parachuted in ultraloyalist Gavin Williamson to replace Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, but her respite could be short-lived.
This might not be the last highprofile casualty in the sex scandal rocking Westminster and May’s slender majority could come under threat if lawmakers are forced to quit Parliament by revelations about their activities. Allegations of impropriety rattling the political establishment have cut across party lines.
In just six weeks, May will need to come up with what promises to be a politically fraught proposal to settle exit payments to the European Union and will need the backing of her lawmakers to try to bring calm and order to government.
“Appointing Williamson as Defence Secretary is not a very welljudged decision; there are plenty of people in the Tory Party who are far more qualified for the job,” said Matt Beech, director of the Centre for British Politics at the University of Hull. “It shows the extent to which she is torn between two warring factions in the Government — the Brexiteers and Remainers — so she is forced to pick from loyal lieutenants.”
The promotion of Williamson, who was in charge of party discipline in the House of Commons, was surprising in some ways as he lacks defence experience.
As chief whip, part of his brief was to advise May on appointments and her office was forced to deny that he was involved in his own appointment.
“These are decisions that are made through patronage, but, obviously, part of the role of the chief whip is to advise the Prime Minister about the suitability of a candidate,” Tory lawmaker Sarah Wollaston, a persistent critic of government policies, told the BBC. “I think it would be worth reflecting whether there were others that were more experienced and suitable for that role.”
The forced reorganisation also leaves management of disgruntled lawmakers in the House of Commons in the hands of a new chief whip, Julian Smith, who, like Williamson, backed Remain in last year’s Brexit referendum.
The appointments reflect May’s constrained position. She has been urged to clear out older ministers and promote younger talent, but reshuffles create enemies, something that she can ill afford, especially three weeks before the Budget and with the European Union withdrawal bill under scrutiny.
Fallon announced his resignation on Thursday, referring obliquely to “allegations” about his private life. On Tuesday, he had admitted to repeatedly touching a female journalist’s leg during a dinner. That was prompted by women speaking out about their experiences in British politics in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal in Hollywood.
“There has been this sense that people can use positions of power to demand things from others and that has got to stop,” Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson told the BBC.
“It’s not actually about sex, it’s about power; it’s always been about power, and we as elected representatives have to hold ourselves to a higher standard.”
May’s deputy, Damian Green, has strongly denied allegations that he made inappropriate approaches to a female Tory activist. The Prime Minister has asked her most senior official to “establish the facts” of the allegations.
On Thursday, before Fallon quit, May took the pro-active step of writing to other party leaders to “come together urgently to address the issue of alleged mistreatment of staff ”.
They will all meet on Tuesday to discuss “how we can work together to deliver the serious, swift and crossparty response this issue demands”. They will need to deliver that. “One component of a really damaging scandal is that normal people must understand it,” said Philip Cowley, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London. “People understood what it meant to fiddle your expenses. And they know what this means, too.”