After just two weeks in office, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has already lost his first cabinet member. Secretary of State Gavin Williamson, who was without a portfolio at the Cabinet table, resigned on Tuesday evening.
The conservative MP had come under pressure in the past few days because of various allegations of bullying. Sunak Williamson recently expressed his confidence, but described his choice of words to a 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.
Conservative chaos
After further allegations were made on Tuesday, Williamson now 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’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.