GAVIN Williamson squirmed this morning as Susanna Reid read out to him a series of claims from a former minister that he is “self-serving” and “venomous”.
The Education Secretary smiled as the Good Morning Britain host read out savage extracts of former minister Alan Duncan’s book today live on air.
She said it was even awkward to read it out to him, with claims from Sir Alan’s ‘In the Thick of it’ that he was “in a rush to ascend the greasy pole”.
She told him during an interview this morning: “I find this absolutely extraordinary that someone that you worked with described you in these terms… ‘self serving, venomous’, and ‘in a rush to ascend the greasy pole’…
“He said that your appointment as Defence Secretary was ‘the most extraordinary cabinet appointment’ that he could think of, ‘absolutely absurd, undeserved, and brazenly stuffed up’… I mean, I find it awkward, reading that out to you, what was it like reading it?”
Mr Williamson replied that he hadn’t actually purchased the diaries of Mr Duncan, formerly a foreign office minister.
He added: “Maybe that’s sort of something for me to do over the summer holiday period…”
Susanna grilled him further, asking: “Did you ever get on?”
But he replied: “Obviously, no, I think it’s fair to say.”
Her co-host Adil Ray said there was a “real hate” there from a former colleague, but Mr Williamson brushed off the pair’s rivalry, saying he was focused on “delivering the best for children”.
Susanna added: “Do you think he provides a good role model?”
“You’re not the only one who comes in for a lashing from him – is this sort of behaviour you think is acceptable from a former minister?”
But the Education Sec refused to bite and said he would “maybe save reading Alan’s book for a little bit later on”.
Susanna recommended that “maybe at some stage you can write one of your own where you can take revenge…”
The book, which publishes several years of his diaries, also described him as a “sly schemer”, written in November 2017.
The extract in full reads: “He is also ludicrously unqualified for the heavyweight job of defence secretary, having never run anything.
“His experience amounts to having been a fireplace salesman, then bag-carrier for two PMs, then chief whip for a year. What on earth was the PM thinking?”
In other extracts he was described as “universally detested” and having “seriously overplayed his hand”.
He also accused him of being a “self-seeking little s**t” and accuses him of working against then-PM Theresa May.
