Gavin Williamson, minister without portfolio within the British Executive headed by Rishi Sunak, announced his resignation on Tuesday after accusations of having sent aggressive messages to the former head of discipline for the Tory parliamentary group and his former employees.
In a letter to Sunak posted on Twitter, Williamson rejects the "caricature" these accusations make of him, but admits that they have become a "distraction from the good work this government is doing for the British."
Sunak had defended the continuity of Williamson in his Executive, barely two weeks old, but the pressure that he has received finally led him to resign.
"I have decided to resign in order to fully comply with the ongoing complaints process and to clear my name of any wrongdoing," Williamson, who served as defense and education minister in previous cabinets, said in the letter.
In reference to the investigation opened by the offensive messages that he sent to the former head of the discipline of the conservative parliamentary group Wendy Morton, he assures that he will submit to the internal process that is followed in his party and stresses that he has already apologized to the affected party.
In mobile messages with insulting language, Williamson accused Morton of having excluded some deputies - like himself - from attending the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II of England to "punish" them for political reasons.
Sunak recovered Williamson, highly criticized after his time in Education in the Cabinet of the former British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson -he ended up being fired for managing selectivity during the pandemic-, for his new Executive, a decision that since the beginning of his tenure received much criticism.
In fact, earlier in Theresa May's government, Williamson was sacked as defense minister for disclosing confidential information from a National Security Council meeting about the UK's 5G facility and Huawei's role.
