Gavin williamson mp with tarantulas spiders
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Defence Secretary&#;s pet tarantula evicted from MoD HQ
Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson’s husdjur tarantula has been evicted from the MoD HQ – because a colleague is afraid of spiders.
The year-old kept his beloved pet, named Cronus after a Greek god who castrated his dad and ate his children to stop them overthrowing him, at his desk in the hub.
He had the two-year-old tarantula when he was ledare Whip and moved him from the House of Commons to the MoD base when he was promoted to Defence sekreterare last month.
But it has now been removed from the property and sent to his family’s Staffordshire home, after it emerged a co-worker has arachnophobia.
‘The spider is no longer in the building,’ a source confirmed to The Sun.
MORE: Woman bitten by spider as she slept can now barely walk
The MoD last week said: ‘Civil Servants and members of the Armed Forces are not permitted to bring domestic pets into Ministry of Defence Main Building.
‘The only undantag
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As chief whip and political fixer for Theresa May, Sir Gavin Williamson had the reputation of a fearsome backroom operator who knew the secrets of Tory MPs and was not afraid to use them. The fact he had a pet tarantula, Cronus, did no harm.
But when he stepped forward into the limelight under May, Boris Johnson and now Rishi Sunak he gained a far less welcome reputation — as a gaffe-prone minister who was more often the object of fun than fear. Here are some of the controversial moments from a rollercoaster career in government . . .
•Williamson denies ‘slit your throat’ jibe was bullying
Williamson with his wife, Joanne. The MP said a tryst with a colleague before he entered politics almost ended his marriage
EXPRESS AND STAR/CATERS NEWS
Williamson’s private life caused embarrassment after he was forced to reveal details of an affair he had
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Yesterday I ate Philip Hammond. I crunched his head right off. I like my food to have a pulse. All right, so it wasn’t the real Philip Hammond. It was a cricket. Gavin likes to name my treats after MPs who aren’t behaving themselves. Does it influence the way they vote? I couldn’t say. But I like to watch politicians squirm when Gavin lets me out of my tank and onto his desk to stretch my legs. I tend to leave my tank only during particularly tight votes. Gavin and I have been together since I was a spiderling. I’m a year old now. I’m a Mexican redknee tarantula, but Staffordshire born and bred (Gavin likes having a constituent nearby). We spend most of our time in the House of Commons and No. 9 Downing Street – I commute with Gavin in my tank. My title is the Official Spinner and Spy-der to the Chief Whip. My only other real friend is Larry the cat, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office. I like Larry a lot – Parliament has a bit of a rodent problem, and it’s up to the two of us to cut