London: Gavin Williamson, a senior minister and close associate of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, resigned following claims of bullying, resulting in the first resignation at the latter’s Cabinet.
The text messages Williamson sent to a coworker are the subject of an ongoing complaints procedure. While he expressed his regret to the recipient for those texts, he was following this procedure, Williamson said in his resignation letter.
“There have been other allegations made about my past conduct. I refute the characterization of these claims, but I recognize these are becoming a distraction for the good work this government is doing,” he added.
When Williamson was the defense secretary under the previous prime minister Theresa May, he intimidated a senior civil worker in the Ministry of Defense and asked them to “slit” their throat, media reports suggest. Williamson was already under fire for a different accusation of bullying made by a different Conservative MP.
On November 8, Anne Milton – Williamson’s former deputy when he served as chief whip, said in an interview with Channel 4 News that his behavior while in office was “threatening” and “intimidating,” and that he would use MPs’ health issues as “leverage”.
“It is with great sadness that I accept your resignation. I know your commitment to successive Conservative governments and the party over the years has been unwavering,” Sunak wrote while accepting Williamson’s resignation.
Sunak rushed out of stage at COP27: Report
London: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was allegedly rushed out of a stage at the ongoing UN COP27 climate summit in Egypt’s coastal city of Sharm El-Sheikh, the media reported.
A video of the incident on November 7 was captured by Leo Hickman, the director/editor of UK climate change website, Carbon Brief, reports the London World news outlet.
Hickman shared the video on Twitter in which he mentioned that “UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has just arrived at the launch of the Forests and Climate Leaders’ Partnership at COP27”.
According to London World, Sunak “was on stage with other world leaders for a climate change event when his aides interrupted him”. There was however, no information on what the aides conveyed to the Prime Minister.
