Gavin Williamson fighting for job as enemies smell blood after he admitted ‘fling’ with co-worker
DEFENCE Secretary Gavin Williamson was fighting for his job last night after admitting a fling with a work colleague.
If he is forced out, Mr Williamson will be the second Defence Secretary sacked over a scandal in just three months.
Yesterday, former colleagues of Mr Williamson at Elgin & Hall — owned by Aga — suggested he left his job under a cloud of suspicion following an internal disciplinary process.
And last night Mr Williamson’s political enemies smelled blood.
One Conservative MP told The Sun: “Michael Fallon was forced to quit for touching a knee long before he was Defence Secretary.
“If the advances were not welcome, it can’t be one rule for Michael and another for his replacement.”
Labour backbencher Jess Phillips said: “The PM should seek assurances that someone who was her Chief Whip and is now Defence Secretary is of the highest standards personally. If there are questions the best thing is to come clean and be honest about it.”
Mr Williamson insisted there was nothing improper in his relationship with the unnamed woman. He was managing director and she is believed to have been a junior manager.
He said he decided to quit his job at the Yorkshire firm as he did not want a constant reminder of his infidelity.
On Thursday, 41-year-old Mr Williamson told the they had shared “a couple” of kisses.
He recalled: “I had a good relationship with everyone I worked with, but with one person this started to develop into something more.
“We had to travel together and spent a lot of time in each other’s company. The relationship became flirtatious and a couple of times we shared a kiss.
“It never went further than that, but this had a profound impact on us both and those close to us. It was a dreadful mistake and stopped as suddenly as it had started.
“I know that this caused problems for her, as it did for me.”
“I’ll never truly understand how she found it in her heart to forgive me, but I tell myself every day how lucky I am to be with such an amazing person.”
The father of two went on: “My family means everything to me and I almost threw it away. This incident nearly destroyed two marriages.
“It will always be part of my past, but has not stopped my wife and I from building a wonderful family together.
“I no longer sell fireplaces and have built a career in politics. Family will always be central to what I do and what I believe in.
“It was the experience of nearly losing mine that made me realise how much mine really matters to me.”
The fling developed in 2004 before he embarked on his political career.
It is claimed a meeting was held to discuss the issue with senior executives from parent company Aga.
Former staff told the Guardian that Williamson left Elgin & Hall days later with no explanation. Aga declined to comment.
Mr Williamson has made no mention of his job at Elgin & Hall in his official website profile or in newspaper interviews.
It is believed he revealed details of his fling to party officials when he first ran for selection as an MP more than a decade ago and has also told Downing Street.
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Last night Mr Williamson declined to comment further. His wife’s sister Jill Anderson refused to talk about it at her four-bedroom detached home in Market Weighton, East Yorkshire.
The defence chief has had a meteoric rise in Parliament from backbench MP to his Cabinet position.
He has also been tipped as a possible Conservative leader.
Speaking about his decision to come clean about the fling, a former Cabinet minister said it appeared Mr Williamson was “clearing the decks” ahead of a leadership challenge.
