After bullying scandal – British Prime Minister Sunak loses first cabinet member

After just two weeks in office, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has already lost his first cabinet member. On Tuesday evening, Secretary of State Gavin Williamson, who was sitting at the Cabinet table without a portfolio, took his hat off. The conservative MP had come under pressure in the past few days because of various allegations of bullying.

Williamson is accused of sending threatening and otherwise inappropriate messages to MPs and former colleagues. In particular, former Tory Parliamentary Secretary Wendy Morton is said to have received a string of such messages. Williamson accused her of wanting to "punish" MPs; then he threatened: "Everything has its price."

Sunak Williamson recently expressed confidence, but described his choice of words towards the party friend in text messages that had become public as "unacceptable". However, he emphasized that he wanted to wait for the results of an internal investigation.

After further allegations were made on Tuesday, Williamson took the consequences himself. "I reject the statements in these allegations, but I recognize that they distract from the good work this Government is doing for the British people," Williamson wrote in his resignation letter to the Prime Minister.

Williamson, 46, has also held ministerial positions in the governments of Theresa May and Boris Johnson, but was fired by both prime ministers.

Williamson's resignation is likely to raise doubts as to whether Sunak is in a position to steer his conservative governing party, which has recently been completely divided and sinking into chaos, into calmer waters. He had taken over the post just two weeks ago from Liz Truss, who was forced to resign by her own faction after just seven weeks in office. Truss only succeeded Boris Johnson, who had been ousted due to numerous scandals, at the beginning of September.