CHIEF WHIP IN TOP TORY GAY SMEAR
PM enforcer’s outrageous claim: ex-Minister cheated on wife with another man
THERESA MAY’S Cabinet enforcer was embroiled in a major row last night after he allegedly smeared a senior Tory by claiming he had cheated on his wife with another man.
Chief Whip Gavin Williamson is said to have made his extraordinary allegation – which is understood to be completely untrue – in the heat of the bitter EU referendum campaign that split the party. The former senior Minister he falsely accused of having a homosexual affair was a prominent ‘Leave’ campaigner.
The allegation is said to have been made inside No 10 when David Cameron was struggling to combat the Brexit revolt. Mr Williamson was
one of Mr Cameron’s closest aides at the time.
When The Mail on Sunday first approached Mr Williamson nine days ago about his alleged comments, he said: ‘I don‘t comment on malicious rumours.’
Pressed again last week, the 40-year-old gave the same reply. And informed that this newspaper intended to publish his alleged comments today, he said: ‘Thanks for the courtesy in letting me know.’
Asked to explain why he had made the alleged comment, what evidence he had for making it, if he stood by it, and whether he wished to apologise for it, he declined to elaborate.
He also declined to respond to the suggestion it was an unwarranted and unjustified smear.
Downing Street also refused to comment.
This newspaper has decided not to publish the name of the former Minister allegedly smeared by Mr Williamson, nor the man he falsely accused him of having an affair with. Both men have wives and children and are happily married. As Chief Whip, Mr Williamson is responsible for enforcing discipline among Ministers and Tory MPs. By tradition, the job includes protecting MPs from potential scandals. As Parliamentary Private Secretary to Mr Cameron, Mr Williamson was the former Prime Minister’s ‘eyes and ears’ in the Commons during the referendum crisis. And when Mr Cameron resigned, he switched sides to back Mrs May who rewarded him by promoting him to her Cabinet as Chief Whip. His huge influence in her inner circle is reflected in the fact he is the only Cabinet Minister to attend her daily morning meeting at No10 with her inner circle of advisers. The alleged smear is the latest evidence of vicious so-called ‘blue on blue’ infighting among senior Tories sparked by the referendum. Mr Williamson’s slur was allegedly made in private inside Downing Street when Mr Cameron and his team realised their hopes of winning the referendum – and Mr Cameron’s hopes of surviving as PM – were slipping away, so vented their fury at Tories in the ‘Leave’ campaign.
Behind public calls to ‘bury the hatchet,’ several Tories on both sides have refused to forgive each other for some of the wild claims, personal abuse and dirty tricks hurled about during the campaign.
Scarborough-born Mr Williamson did not enter Parliament until 2010 when he won the South Staffordshire seat. So many MPs were surprised when such a relatively inexperienced politician was promoted from Mr Cameron’s PPS, the lowest rung on the ministerial ladder, to Mrs May’s Chief Whip.
In part, it was seen as a ‘payback’ for the way he used his detailed knowledge of Tory MPs built up during his time as Mr Cameron’s Commons ‘spy’ to woo them to May’s cause.
The influential Conservative Home website called him Mrs May’s ‘baby-faced assassin’ and quoted a senior Tory saying of him: ‘He might be thought a callow youngster from the sticks. That would be a grave mistake. He makes Francis Urquhart look like Eddie the Eagle.’ Urquhart, played by actor Ian Richardson, was the fictitious villainous Chief Whip in the 1980s British TV series House Of Cards, recently revived for a US version starring Kevin Spacey.
Mr Williamson has earned a reputation as a formidable parliamentary street fighter. Within weeks of being appointed as Mr Cameron’s PPS he was rebuked by Speaker John Bercow for barracking Labour leader Ed Miliband during Prime Minister’s Questions.
Mr Williamson revelled in bellowing ‘Weak!’ at Mr Miliband. Mr Bercow slapped him down, saying his job as PPS was to ‘nod his head in the appropriate places, and to fetch and carry notes – no noise is required’.
Mr Williamson’s response was to go undercover, forming a secret squad of Tory MPs – dubbed the ‘Q-Team’ – who would devise insults designed to throw Mr Miliband off balance.
Mr Cameron returned Mr Williamson’s fierce loyalty by appointing him a Privy Counsellor after last year’s Election victory. He also received a CBE in Mr Cameron’s controversial resignation honours list for his ‘political and public service.’
Mr Williamson was among those who consoled Mr Cameron in No10 after the referendum defeat and was at his side when he decided to resign.
‘He and I were sat having a cup of tea before phoning the Queen and it was obvious that he felt it was the right thing to do,’ he said.
‘It was incredibly emotional.’
Vented fury at Tories in the Leave campaign