Gavin Williamson ordered to apologise over bullying texts to Wendy Morton
BBC By Joshua Nevett
BBC Politics
Former cabinet minister Sir Gavin Williamson has been told to apologise after a parliamentary inquiry found he had bullied a colleague in texts.
Sir Gavin quit as a minister last year after sending expletive-laden texts to former Tory chief whip Wendy Morton.
In the texts, Sir Gavin accused Ms Morton of excluding some MPs from the Queen's funeral in September last year.
He sent the texts in the run-up to the funeral and Ms Morton lodged a complaint with Parliament in November.
Opposition parties have questioned why Mr Sunak appointed Sir Gavin as a minister in October last year, after being told about Ms Morton's complaint.
In a report published on Monday, an independent panel commissioned by Parliament found Sir Gavin committed a breach of the bullying and harassment policy.
It concluded that Sir Gavin's conduct was an abuse of power, finding that it had gone beyond vigorous complaint or political disagreement to a threat to lever his power and authority as a former chief whip to undermine Ms Morton personally.
