Opinion: Fallon down – the challenges facing the UK’s new defence secretary
Gavin Who? That’s the likely first reaction from many seasoned Whitehall warriors on the news that Gavin Williamson, the 41-year-old MP for South Staffordshire and Chief Whip, had been appointed the new Secretary of State for Defence following the unexpected resignation of Michael Fallon.
The new Secretary of State becomes the fourth incumbent of the post since 2010, inheriting a department in the throes of yet another financial crisis that will require difficult, politically unpalatable choices to fix.
Williamson arrives without prior ministerial experience and a reputation as a ‘May loyalist’ who was involved in the agreement between the
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