Bullying and discipline are fine line

RISHI Sunak seems to have been poorly advised when he choose to appoint Sir Gavin Williamson to yet another ministerial post.

Already sacked by previous Prime Ministers, he was also the subject of complaints about his standards of behaviour to colleagues, yet the PM appears not to have been informed about the details.

Bullying anywhere is unacceptable, especially in the workplace, but employers know that at times it is difficult to separate strictness from derision, verbally or physically.

Fortunately, in my career, I never had to deal with a case of bullying, but had lots of complaints from workers who felt that authority was too strict.

There is a fine line between the two at times, and many hours had to be spent sorting out such difficulties, for good skilled workers are a valuable commodity and individual temperaments, when clashing, can give rise to problems.

Those of us who have served in the armed forces learnt at an early age the difference between strict discipline and bullying, although here again, I never experienced the latter during my time of service.

In Sir Gavin’s case, it would appear that what occurred has permanently damaged his career and the electorate of South Staffordshire may have to reflect on the matter.

As an evacuee, I was bullied at school as I did not belong to the local community. To a small boy, this can be quite frightening and I had to learn to live with it. In today’s world though, especially in public life, it is totally unacceptable.

The Prime Minister is going to have to be more careful when handing down promotions for he is been given a lot of grief by Sir Keir Starmer over his appointment of Suella Braverman as Home Secretary.

Perhaps he should take a close look at some of his advisers who should never have allowed this embarrassment.

Unusually, on the public relations front, the Tory party have not done very well since the 2019 election and perhaps the PM might give thought to some changes, for the next two years for him and his government will be critical.