Gavin Williamson hit by fresh claim of ‘tacit threat’ to female MP about private life

Allies say Williamson was only raising sensitive issue in his ‘pastoral capacity’

Cabinet minister Gavin Williamson has been accused of making a tacit threat by raising a sensitive issue about a female Tory MP’s private life in a meeting.

A fellow Tory minister is said to have claimed that Mr Williamson mentioned an issue about her private life in 2016 in a bid to silence her when he was chief whip and she was a backbencher.

The MP – who was campaigning on an issue causing problems for the government at the time – interpretated the conversation as a threat, according to The Times.