To say that Gavin Williamson’s appointment as Defence Secretary has received a mixed reaction is to suggest, wrongly, that there is a balance of opinion on both sides. Most Conservative MPs I have spoken to today are just shocked that someone with no departmental experience is now in charge of the biggest department of all, with some of the biggest budgetary challenges.
‘I’m not sceptical, because that would suggest I hadn’t reached a conclusion,’ said one colleague. ‘I’m appalled. He’s smarmy. He uses bad language about other people. He is not to be trusted.’ Others have no problem with Williamson himself, seeing him as one of the better whips they’ve encountered and even a friend, but are dismayed that someone who one minister describes as a ‘child’ is now in one of the most senior Cabinet positions when others were more deserving.
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