Boy from 地元の comp - with a pet tarantula: ANDREW PIERCE profiles new defence 長官 Gavin Williamson

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When the surprise 告示 （機の）カム through that Gavin Williamson was the new Defence 長官, one former 大臣 was overheard in the ありふれたs 説: ‘He’s our next leader.’

On social マスコミ there were 類似の 予測s after Williamson, 促進するd from 長，指導者 Whip at 41, leap-frogged far more experienced 同僚s to become the youngest person to take the 上級の 閣僚 役割 since it was created during the Second World War.

The suggestion that he could go all the way to the 最高の，を越す is the more remarkable because he has never held 大臣の office or made a speech from the 派遣（する） box in the ありふれたs. When he has spoken from the backbenches, many of his 同僚s regarded his offerings as leaden and second 率.

長，指導者 whip Gavin Williamson (pictured arriving at the 省 of Defence today) has 取って代わるd Michael Fallon as Defence 長官

Yet as the 政府’s 長，指導者 Whip ? he was 任命するd last summer ? he 繁栄するd in the 役割, where his 責任／義務 was to keep party discipline and make sure MPs 投票（する）d along 政府 lines.

長，指導者 whips gather （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） about MPs’ indiscretions and misdemeanours, not only to try to pre-empt 可能性のある スキャンダルs but also to use it to ‘説得する’ MPs to 落ちる into line.

They need feline cunning and ruthlessness. Williamson 論証するd that he had both in spades last month when he killed 石／投石する-dead a 陰謀（を企てる） against Theresa May after her 悲惨な party 会議／協議会 speech.

Living up to his 愛称 of ‘the baby-直面するd 暗殺者’, h e すぐに outed the ringleader ? former Tory chairman 認める Shapps ? in the 圧力（をかける）. Tory MPs loyal to May then 列d up to 公然と非難する Shapps 公然と. The 試みる／企てるd クーデター fizzled out and Shapps was utterly humiliated.

‘It was a brilliant 操作／手術 which 紅潮／摘発するd out Shapps and showed he had no one 公然と supporting him,’ one 閣僚 大臣 told me.

‘Gavin is developing into our own Francis Urquhart, 法外なd in the 黒人／ボイコット arts of political intrigue.’

Urquhart was the manipulative 長，指導者 whip played by Ian Richardson in the TV series in the British 見解／翻訳／版 of the political thriller House Of Cards.

Mr Williamson is known as the 'baby-直面するd 暗殺者' の中で 同僚s, an image 高めるd by his pet tarantula Cronus?

G avin Williamson’s steely cunning ? 同様に as his inside knowledge of MPs’ peccadilloes ? was on 陳列する，発揮する again this week. It was he who was part of a group of 上級の advis ers who told the 総理大臣 that Sir Michael Fallon had to go after learning about the bombshell 主張s from Andrea Leadsom.

No one, however, foresaw that Williamson would 取って代わる Fallon after he 辞職するd on Wednesday evening.

His critics are appalled by the 任命, 最高潮の場面ing his inexperience ? not least in defence. They say his sudden 昇進／宣伝 to a 上級の 閣僚 地位，任命する is a telling reflection of his 持つ／拘留する over May, to whom he has long been loyal. Others, however, 異なる. ‘His 平易な smile, Yorkshire accent and genial 質 don’t やめる manage to mask a first-class political brain,’ one 大臣 has said.

‘People might think him a callow youngster from the sticks. That would be a very, very 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な mistake.

‘He makes Francis Urquhart look like Eddie the Eagle.’

Williamson’s ascent is remarkable. He was brought up in Scarborough by his 労働-supporting parents, Ray, a 地元の 政府 労働者, and Beverley, who worked in a 職業s centre.

Mr Williams on shakes 手渡すs with the 副／悪徳行為 長，指導者 of the Defence Staff Gordon Messenger as he arrives at the department today

He went to a 地元の 包括的な then Bradford University ? in 示すd contrast to most on the Oxbridge-支配するd 保守的な （法廷の）裁判s.

His wife, Joanne, is a 最初の／主要な school teacher and the couple have two young daughters.

As soon as he left Bradford, where he’d joined the Tories, he was 申し込む／申し出d work with the party ? but 拒絶する／低下するd.

‘The best piece of advice I received was from my father, who told me to get a real 職業 in the real world,’ he said later. ‘I had been 申し込む／申し出d a 職業 by the 保守的なs, but I took his advice and got a real 職業.’

He chose the pottery 産業 in Staffordshire, becoming divisional director of Aynsley 中国 before running his own pottery and design practice.

After becoming a Tory 郡 議員, he won the 安全な seat of South Staffordshire in 2010.

For three years he was David Cameron’s 議会の 私的な 長官, although he had little in ありふれた with the 主要都市の types who surrounded Cameron.

After Cameron’s 辞職, Williamson 誓約（する）d 忠誠 to May, rather than Boris Johnson. May rewarded him with the 長，指導者 Whip’s 職業.

In this capacity, he was sent to Ulster by May に引き続いて the botched 総選挙 this year to 安全な・保証する a を取り引きする the Democratic Unionist Party, whose support keeps the Tories in 力／強力にする.

Softly-spoken Williamson has joked about his 役割 as 長，指導者 Whip and 交渉するing technique. ‘I don’t very much believe in the stick,’ he says, ‘but it’s amazing what can be 達成するd with a sharpened carrot.’

Strangely, he keeps a pet Mexican tarantula, Cronus, in a glass box on his desk. Cronus was the Greek god who （機の）カム to 力／強力にする by castrating his father before eating his own children to 確実にする they wouldn’t 追い出す him.

Whether the Cronus story is 象徴的な of Williamson’s ambition is 不明瞭な.

But as a former whip, he knows where all the 団体／死体s are buried ? and is, I’m sure, ruthless enough to use the （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） to his advantage.

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