3 min read16 min
Senior Conservative MP Gavin Williamson has denied that he is planning to defect to Reform UK. The former Tory whip told PoliticsHome it was “news to him” when asked about Michael Gove’s claim that he would be the next Conservative MP to switch. Gove, a former Conservative cabinet minister, is now editor of The Spectator. He made the claim about Williamson on the magazine’s podcast Quite Right! this week. “The number one suspect for defection at the moment is… Gavin Williamson,” the former MP for Surrey Heath said. “Gavin, the former chief whip, has a fingertip feel for power, and he has a taste for the intriuge, obviously, but an aptitude for putting himself at the heart of events. “And I think that the temptation to be at the heart of what Reform are doing will prove very great.” He added: “And Gavin, if you’re listening and this is absolutely not true, I can only apologise.” Asked specifically about Gove’s claim, Williamson, who has been the Conservative MP for Stone, Great Wyrley and …