The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, said Wednesday that he «regrets» having chosen the recently resigned minister Gavin Williamson for his Executive, although he defended that he was unaware of the accusations against him about harassment and intimidation of British officials during his time as Minister of Defense.
Sunak explained, after being questioned in the House of Commons by Labour’s Keir Starmer, that the resignation of the Minister of State without portfolio is a «correct» decision and has indicated that, having accepted his departure from the Executive, he has demonstrated that «integrity in public life matters», as reported by Sky News.
For his part, Starmer has compared Williamson to a «sad middle manager who gets off on bullying those under him» after it became known that British politician went so far as to tell a former senior civil servant when he held the post of defense minister (2017-2019) to «cut his throat».
Sunak is facing aftershocks in the House of Commons from the opposition following the departure of Williamson from the Executive, who issued a letter to the Government in which he claimed that the allegations against him were becoming a distraction for the Executive.
For his part, the British ‘premier’ thanked him for his resignation and showed his support for him, going so far as to say that he accepted his departure «with great sadness». «I support your decision to step aside and understand why you have done so,» the letter read.
Williamson, who in recent days has been under public scrutiny after several insulting text messages were leaked to his then boss Wendy Morton over disagreements at Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, has held senior positions in previous executives as defense minister and education minister.
