Gavin Williamson news – live: Strip MP of knighthood if bullying claims upheld, say Lib Dems

There is strong empirical evidence to suggest that an adult bully may have psychopathological tendencies such as narcissism and Machiavellianism, writes Victoria Richards.

Read Victoria’s full piece here:

The leader of the opposition was wise to echo Tony Blair’s attack on John Major, writes John Rentoul.

Read John’s full piece here:

Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg has arrived in Downing Street for a meeting with Rishi Sunak.

He is the first international leader to visit No 10 since Mr Sunak became prime minister, in a sign of the concerns over the situation in Ukraine and the importance of the Nato alliance.

Earlier Mr Stoltenberg was hosted by defence secretary Ben Wallace at Lydd army camp in Kent, where Ukrainian volunteers are being trained to fight in the war against Russia.

A woman who donated £20,000 to Rishi Sunak’s leadership campaign in the summer has since been appointed as his head of policy.

Mr Sunak received a donation from Eleanor Shawcross on 24 August, official records show.

The prime minister appointed Ms Shawcross – who sometimes uses the name Wolfson (her husband’s surname), the one used to donate the money – as his head of policy after forming a government last month.

Ms Shawcross previously served as a non-executive director at the Department for Work and Pensions and also advised ex-chancellor George Osborne.

Home secretary Suella Braverman should be summoned to the Commons to explain and apologise for the treatment of journalists covering protests, MPs have heard.

Liberal Democrat MP Daisy Cooper (St Albans) said: “I was utterly appalled to see LBC journalist Charlotte Lynch being arrested by Hertfordshire Police yesterday whilst covering the Just Stop Oil protests on the M25 in my constituency whilst other journalists were also detained covering separate similar protests in Hertfordshire.”

The MP added: “I have written to Hertfordshire Police today and they have now put out a statement. They’ve said they’ve requested an independent force to examine their approach to identify some learnings and they’ve taken some additional measures. In other words ‘nothing to see here’.

“We are not an authoritarian state. The ability of journalists to do their job unhindered is a vital part of our democracy.

“So given the severity of these incidents and the fact that Parliament is going into recess tomorrow, could you please give me some advice, Mr Deputy Speaker, as to how the House may be able to summon the Home Secretary to this place for her to give a statement offering an explanation, an apology and a reassurance that this will never happen again?”

Nigel Evans, deputy speaker, said he had not received any indication from Ms Braverman that she intended to make a statement to the Commons.

Sinn Fein leader Michelle O’Neill has questioned why Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris had not targeted the pay cut at DUP MLAs who were refusing to engage with the devolved institutions.

“I think it would have been more effective to target that towards those people that are actually failing to turn up and join all the rest of the team that actually want to be here to make politics work,” she said.

Her comments came after Mr Heaton-Harris confirmed he would cut MLAs for their failure to form a devolved government in an ongoing row over Brexit’s Northern Ireland protocol.

Ms O’Neill said Northern Ireland was now facing the prospect of an “unadulterated Tory budget” being imposed on the region.

“He (Mr Heaton-Harris) has taken powers obviously to set a budget that allows the lights to be kept on but doesn’t allow any new decisions, doesn’t allow us to actually plan for the future, doesn’t allow us to invest and prioritise our health service, doesn’t allow us to deal with the issue of public sector pay. So, I don’t think that’s a good position.

“So, the DUP have landed us in a position where we have an unadulterated Tory budget with no filter in terms of local decision-making, no filter in terms of local ministers taking decisions in the interest of the people that live here.”

British businesses need to tell the government to leave EU law alone, the incoming head of the TUC has said.

Paul Nowak said “scrapping employment laws” inherited from the EU would not be in the top 10 priorities for “most serious businesses in the UK” and company bosses should be “unafraid” in telling the government so.

Christopher McKeon has the story:

Ian Blackford accused Rishi Sunak of being “as bad” as Liz Truss as he criticised the prime minister’s decision to appoint Sir Gavin Williamson to his government.

Sir Gavin, the MP for Staffordshire South, resigned on Tuesday night amid claims that he bulled two of his colleagues, allegations he continues to deny.

Mr Blackford, the Scottish National Party’s leader in the House of Commons, also asked Mr Sunak if he supported his predecessor Boris Johnson’s attempts to elevate a number of his allies to the House of Lords in his resignation honours list

Watch the exchange below:

Jeremy Corbyn has said he is living “rent-free” in Rishi Sunak’s ahead after the prime minister retreated into an attack on the former Labour leader at PMQs for the third week in a row.

Mr Sunak again raised Sir Keir Starmer’s previous support for Mr Corbyn as he struggled to cope with questions about his decision to appoint “cartoon bully” Gavin Williamson to the cabinet.

Our politics correspondent Adam Forrest reports:

The events that led to Gavin Williamson’s resignation unfolded over just a few days …

Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin has this timeline of events that resulted in the South Staffordshire MP’s third exit from government.