Williamson retains PM's 'confidence'

THE Prime Minister still has full confidence in Sir Gavin Williamson, despite the emergence of threatening and abusive texts the senior minister sent to the former chief whip, Downing Street has said.

Rishi Sunak is under fire for bringing Sir Gavin back into the Government when he had been warned the former education secretary was under investigation for allegedly bullying Wendy Morton.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said Sir Gavin is "clearly not suitable" for the job, and claimed Mr Sunak was "weak" to appoint him to the Cabinet Office.

In a series of texts exposed over the weekend, Sir Gavin accused Ms Morton of seeking to "punish" MPs like him who were out of favour with then-premier Liz Truss by excluding them from the Queen's funeral.