Former Tory minister Sir Gavin Williamson has avoided being suspended from Parliament for ‘intimidating’ a colleague whom he blamed for missing the Queen’s funeral.

An parliamentary inquiry found Sir Gavin had bullied Wendy Morton while he was a Cabinet Office minister and she was Tory chief whip.

The panel said it ‘considered carefully’ whether to suspend him but instead ordered him to make a ‘full and unreserved apology’ to Ms Morton.

Now a backbencher, Sir Gavin was forced to quit his government role by Rishi Sunak last year after his expletive-laden texts to Wendy Morton came to light.

He believed he was deliberately snubbed from Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral because he hadn’t supported Liz Truss, who was prime minister at the time, in the recent leadership race.

In one of the messages, he wrote: ‘its [sic] very clear how you are going to treat a number of us which is very stupid and you are showing f*** all interest in pulling things together.’

Ms Morton repeatedly assured him there was no conspiracy to withhold tickets to the funeral for political reasons.

But he ended the exchange by saying: ‘Well, let’s see how many more times you f*** us all over. There is a price for everything.’

Further allegations were made in the following months, including claims that he told a senior civil servant to ‘slit your throat’ and ‘jump out of the window’ at a meeting while he was defence secretary.

The official said Sir Gavin, who was also sacked by both Theresa May and Boris Johnson when they were prime minister, ‘deliberately demeaned and intimated them’ regularly.

Sir Gavin was initially cleared of bullying or harassing Ms Morton by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Daniel Greenberg.

Gavin Williamson’s ‘bullying’ texts in full

The report confirms the exact wording of the text messages sent between Sir Gavin and Ms Morton on September 13, 2022.

Sir Gavin (3.59pm): ‘Think very poor how PCs (privy counsellors) who arent [sic] favoured have been excluded from the funeral. Very poor and sends a very clear message’

Ms Morton to Sir Gavin (4.01pm): ‘That is not the case…’

Sir Gavin (4.02pm): ‘Well certainly looks it which think is very shit and perception becomes reality.’

Sir Gavin (4.03pm): ‘Also don’t forget I know how this works so don’t puss me about’

Ms Morton (4.15pm): ‘As I said above – thats simply not the case …. The number of places allocated was extremely limited’

Sir Gavin (4.21pm): ‘its [sic] very clear how you are going to treat a number of us which is very stupid and you are showing f*** all interest in pulling things together. Don’t bother asking anything from me’

Sir Gavin (4.22pm): ‘also this shows exactly how you have rigged it is is [sic] disgusting you are using her death to punish people who are just supportive, absolutely disgusting’

Ms Morton (4.47pm): ‘…, again, this is not the case whatsover [sic]’

Sir Gavin (5.01pm): ‘Well lets see how many more times you f*** us all over. There is a price for everything’

But she appealed the decision to Westminster’s Independent Expert Panel (IEP), who reversed it.

The panel branded Sir Gavin’s texts as ‘offensive and intimidating’ and accused him of an ‘abuse of power’.

His conduct went ‘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’, it added in a report.

The report continued: ‘In the clearest terms, he was going to make her position difficult and frustrate her role as the newly appointed chief whip, all as revenge for his perception that she had denied him (and others) a ticket to the Queen’s funeral because he was not a prime minister Truss supporter.

‘This was not just a party matter or a simple political difference. It was direct action by way of threat to her personally. And that is clearly how she felt it.’

Sir Gavin was knighted after being nominated in Boris Johnson’s honours list last year.

Mr Johnson removed him as education secretary in a reshuffle over criticism related to the Covid-19 A-levels debacle.

Theresa May sacked him for leaking details of a National Security Council meeting.

He became a key ally to Mr Sunak, who was criticised for appointing him to his cabinet both before and after the bullying scandal.

Mr Sunak did not keep Ms Morton on as chief whip when he took office, and she is now also a backbencher.

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