Gavin Williamson knighthood; time to tell the truth as Downing Street, Cabinet Office and CCHQ stonewall these questions amid ‘corruption’ claims – Tom Richmond

THERE is only one insult greater than Boris Johnson’s decision to use the Ukraine war as cover to sneak out a knighthood to Gavin Williamson – and that was the subsequent silence of Downing Street and the political establishment which would not have looked out of place in Putin’s Russia.

Exactly one week after slipping out a statement, as Russia’s military bombardment of Ukrainian civilians intensified, to say the Queen had been “pleased to approve” the honour – and there’s no evidence that Her Majesty was content with this chicanery – few, if any, Tory Ministers and MPs have gone public to defend an indefensible decision.

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Yet the lack of transparency risks undermining the honours system and recognition for genuinely great people, from all walks of life, who contribute far more to society than the hopeless Williamson who was sacked by Theresa May as Defence Secretary for leaking state secrets before, in a mysterious move, being made Education Secretary when Johnson came to power.

No explanation is forthcoming for Boris Johnson's decision to award a knighthood to Gavin Williamson, the disgraced former Education Secretary, last week.No explanation is forthcoming for Boris Johnson's decision to award a knighthood to Gavin Williamson, the disgraced former Education Secretary, last week.
No explanation is forthcoming for Boris Johnson's decision to award a knighthood to Gavin Williamson, the disgraced former Education Secretary, last week.

A laughing stock who made the still infamous Chris Grayling look moderately competent by comparison, this gratuitous reward for failure – and its timing – points to a wider grubbiness that is a collective insult to teachers, parents and pupils let down by the now Sir Gavin’s abject lack of leadership in the Covid pandemic.

This decision – as well as the silence on ill-advised peerage that Johnson previously awarded to media mogul Evgeny Lebedev, the son of the KGB spy – also reflects abysmally on Downing Street’s shake-up after the ‘partygate’ scandal, points to a continuing cronyism that casts new doubt on the Tory leader’s integrity and prompts further questions about his political priorities when Europe’s freedom is under attack from Russian forces.

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After all, Williamson was the Education Secretary whose indecisiveness saw schools open for a ‘super-spreading’ day in January 2021 before closing 24 hours later. He then failed miserably to secure sufficient funding to help pupils catch up on lost learning. According to one senior Yorkshire MP, they believe Williamson – when sacked – demanded a knighthood from Johnson in return for his silence on the Prime Minister’s own fitness to govern, hence these public interest questions to the Government:

Few, if any, Tory MPs have defended the knighthood awarded to Scarborough-born Sir Gavin Williamson last week.Few, if any, Tory MPs have defended the knighthood awarded to Scarborough-born Sir Gavin Williamson last week.
Few, if any, Tory MPs have defended the knighthood awarded to Scarborough-born Sir Gavin Williamson last week.

1. On what basis has Gavin Williamson received his knighthood?

2. Can you confirm that Boris Johnson recommended Gavin Williamson for the knighthood?

3. Why was the decision taken now, outside the normal New Year and Birthday Honours timelines?

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4. The Gavin Williamson knighthood was not part of a wider list of political honours – why?

Few, if any, Tory MPs have defended the knighthood awarded to Scarborough-born Sir Gavin Williamson last week after his disastrous tenureship of the Department for Education during the Covid pandemic.Few, if any, Tory MPs have defended the knighthood awarded to Scarborough-born Sir Gavin Williamson last week after his disastrous tenureship of the Department for Education during the Covid pandemic.
Few, if any, Tory MPs have defended the knighthood awarded to Scarborough-born Sir Gavin Williamson last week after his disastrous tenureship of the Department for Education during the Covid pandemic.

5. How do you respond to the criticism of the knighthood and assertion by some Tory MPs that it is ‘corrupt’?

6. Has the Cabinet Office received opposition to the knighthood and do the public have any right to block this award?

What followed was a political ‘pass the parcel’ bordering on the absurd – the equivalent of ‘too hot to handle’.

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The Cabinet Office, who oversee the honours system, said on Monday that it was a matter for Downing Street.

The questions were sent to the Downing Street press office who did not respond. On Tuesday, they said it was a matter for the PM’s personal press secretary Rosie Bate-Williams – or Conservative Campaign Headquarters (and whose Twitter social media feed omits to mention the knighthood).

Ms Bate-Williams did not respond to an email – while CCHQ said it was a matter for 10 Downing Street. Still following? An email was then sent to Oliver Dowden, co-chair to the Tory party, asking for a response. He, too, did not have the courtesy to reply.

However a senior Cabinet Office spokesperson did call on Tuesday night – he had become aware of this newspaper’s frustrations – before pointing out that it was a matter for 10 Downing Street as it was a ‘political honour’. Finally, Ms Bate-Williams sent a terse email saying the knighthood “was awarded in recognition of political and public service”. When it was pointed out in response that this succinct and evasive response did not answer questions about the probity of the award, or processes followed, she declined to answer – again.

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Equally puzzling is Labour’s apparent ambivalence – presumably because it regrets ‘courting’ John Bercow and making him a Labour peer before the sanctimonious former Speaker was found guilty this week of bullying.

But there is one way forward. Test the credibility of the Williamson knighthood by putting it to a Commons vote – or a referendum in either his South Staffordshire constituency or home town of Scarborough. It’s called democracy and it should never be taken for granted. Just ask the people of Ukraine.

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