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KIRSTY STRICKLAND: Gavin Williamson wouldn’t last five minutes in a real government of integrity

image shows Rishi Sunak on one side, Gavin Williamson on the other.
Gavin Williamson is the latest government appointment to rebound on Rishi Sunak.

Who among us has not sent an ill-judged WhatsApp message on occasion?

It happens to the best of us.

One minute you’re going about your business like a respectable human being and the next you’re half a bottle of wine down and sending paragraphs of misspelled angst to your ex or childhood foe.

It was much harder to embarrass yourself in the olden days.

If you wanted to declare your undying love to the guy from the farm across the way or list the many grievances you had with your employer, you’d have to write them a letter.

There was a time-commitment involved; a built-in cooling-off period that saved countless blushes.

image shows the writer Kirsty Strickland next to a quote: "In years gone by, intimidatory nonsense like this from a wannabe macho man would have warranted an immediate sacking."

Conservative MP Gavin Williamson is the latest casualty of our instant messaging culture.

Though his own exceptional stupidity played no small part.

If you haven’t seen this latest UK Government Game of Thrones tribute act, allow me to offer a brief summary.

Man who was previously sacked from government for leaking information from a top-level security council meeting is currently under investigation for sending a series of expletive-laden texts to the former Conservative chief whip.

In the messages, Gavin Williamson is raging that some MPs weren’t offered tickets to the Queen’s funeral.

photo shows Gavin Williamson seated at a desk with a union jack flag behind him.
Rishi Sunak is under fire for appointing Gavin Williamson. Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

His temper tantrums spanned some months.

Yet colleagues who defend him insist he sent the many inappropriate messages “in the heat of the moment’’.

Is Gavin Williamson really the best Rishi Sunak can do?

This story would be relegated to a mere sideshow amid the current political turmoil were in not for the fact that Gavin Williamson was recently brought back into government by new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

It is alleged Mr Sunak was aware that Mr Williamson was the subject of a bullying complaint for the text messages before he made him a minister of state at the cabinet office.

Which kind of goes against the Prime Minister’s pledge that his government would be one with “integrity’’ at its heart.

photo shows Gavin Williams and colleagues seated around the cabinet table in Downing Street.
Gavin Williamson, left, at Rishi Sunak’s first cabinet meeting in Downing Street. Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Although to be fair to Rishi Sunak, he’s not exactly got much to work with.

Trying to build a cabinet of integrity when you’re picking from this crop of Conservative MPs is no mean feat.

It would be like trying to make the best apple crumble you can with the contents of a fruit bowl that is in an advanced state of decomposition.

Between all the bullies, abusers, adulterers, law-breakers, crooks, scoundrels and eejits, there isn’t much room for manoeuvre for a Prime Minister who is desperate to disinfect the toxic Tory brand.

Williamson controversy puts Sunak in a corner

Rishi Sunak described Mr Williamson’s angry texts to former chief whip Wendy Morton as “completely inappropriate’’.

Which is somewhat of an understatement, considering one of them contained the thinly-veiled threat “there is a price for everything’’.

You can almost imagine Gavin Williamson sitting in a smoky room drinking whisky and stroking a white cat as he typed out the message.

In years gone by, intimidatory nonsense like this from a wannabe macho man would have warranted an immediate sacking.

He wouldn’t even be given the time to clear the cigars and military paraphernalia from his office.

But the Conservative party is now a place of second, third and fourth chances, even for the worst offenders.

After the antics of the last few years, their image is so irretrievably damaged that they’d rather pretend things are fine than draw attention to bad behaviour by getting rid of those responsible.

photo shows home secretary Suella Braverman walking past the iron railings in Downing Street.
Rishi Sunak has also been criticised for bringing Home Secretary Suella Braverman back into the government after a security breach. Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Who knows if Gavin Williamson will survive this scandal and live to troll another day.

But one thing is for sure.

If Rishi Sunak does boot him out of cabinet it won’t be because he is a Prime Minister determined to do things differently.

It will be because his own bad decisions have left him backed into a corner.

Which is something he has in common with his two most recent predecessors.

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