How Does Theresa May Respond to Sexual Abuse Allegations?

When the wolves are at the door and you've given them all the food, it's time to start throwing out the bodies. Lurching from one disaster to the next, Theresa May is looking to save her job while also trying to appear to take action against the culture of sexual harassment that pervades Westminster.

On Wednesday, Sir Michael Fallon, an ally of May's, resigned as defence secretary. This resignation was presented as being brought about by revelations that, 15 years ago, he repeatedly put his hand on the knee of the political journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer.

In his resignation letter, Sir Michael wrote that while many of the allegations that have surfaced in recent days have been false, he accepted that "in the past I have fallen below the high standards that we require of the armed forces". Here was the number one respecter of the troops doing what was right by them and falling on his sword.

Something didn't seem right, though. It had been suggested by various insiders that touching a journalist on the knee was not where the story ended, that Sir Michael had done worse and that he was leaving as part of a deal that involves that story remaining untold. He was a "Jekyll and Hyde" character, who turned into a different person after a few drinks. The fact that Jekyll and Hyde was the same man seems to have escaped some of Sir Michael's defenders.

Hartley-Brewer herself said that if his resignation was over "kneegate", in her words, "him touching my knee 15 years ago and me not having any issue with it today, this is the most insane, absurd and ridiculous resignation of a Cabinet minister ever".

But yesterday it emerged that Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the House of Commons, has accused Sir Michael of directing inappropriate language at her. It has been reported that at a parliamentary meeting six years ago, Leadsom complained that she had cold hands and Michael replied, "I know where you can put them." Leadsom says she has kept records of other inappropriate remarks made by Fallon.

Until this week, Fallon was known as Mr Reliable, a Conservative politician straight out of central casting, a white-haired white man who could wear a suit and convey a sense of authority. In short, he was plausible, and certainly many people who worked with him, civil servants included, thought he was good at what he did.

But he was also a man used to a certain amount of power, familiar with the ministerial car, held aloft by the waters of privilege and patronage, a sense of nothing catching up with him. Since the many allegations against Harvey Weinstein, men from all walks of life are finally having to face up to the ways in which they abuse and misuse their authority, the ways in which they assault, harass and belittle women. There is a long overdue reckoning happening in Westminster, where the halls of power have long been walked by men who use that power to do terrible things. Some light is, at last, being shed into the dark corners of the gothic chamber.

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But if May's government was serious about tackling the misuse of power in Westminster then Michael Fallon would not be leaving with a glowing letter of appreciation from his boss, who wrote of his "long and impressive Ministerial career" and his championing of "our brave armed forces".

To read Sir Michael's letter of resignation and May's reply, you'd think he'd just decided to peacefully call it a day in order to spend more time with the grandkids. Both letters portray him as an absolute legend who loved our brave boys in the armed forces and did right by them, a public servant respected by all, rather than a powerful man forced into resigning by his sexual misconduct.

The instalment of former chief whip Gavin Williamson as new defence secretary only highlights May's weakness – having lost her two main advisors and bullies, Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, she has now lost Fallon, and it seems she was in no position to deny Williamson's political ambitions. Penny Mordaunt, a former defence minister, seemed far more qualified for the role and would have been Britain's first female defence secretary, signalling a genuine change in attitudes. Instead, May has installed another white man in one of the least diverse cabinets in recent memory.

It also adds to the whole House of Cards feel in British politics right now – Frank Underwood (or Francis Urquhart if you prefer the British version, which after recent revelations about Kevin Spacey, you should) is a whip who ascends to the top job. Williamson, apparently, wants to become prime minister, and has inserted himself into the cabinet, and therefore the running for leader, in a time of crisis.

Whips are the people who know where the bodies are buried. Their job is to get their party's MPs to vote the way the party wants, and they will use any information they have on their colleagues to achieve that result. It is the culture of the whips that contributes to an atmosphere in which sexual harassment and sexual abuse gets covered up. If a whip hears a story of abuse, they may use it as leverage to get a perpetrator to do what they want, rather than do what is right by the victim and expose the crime. Lisa Nandy, a backbench Labour MP, warned Theresa May in Parliament three times about the use of this practice, but she says nothing has changed.

As for Williamson himself, he is young, from the north, state-school educated and the child of Labour-voting parents. That doesn't make him progressive – his voting record shows that he has almost always voted against equal gay rights, including voting to block rights for the LGBT service personnel he is now responsible for – but it does make him a politician with potential to rise fast. He has been described by Jacob Rees-Mogg as a "thoroughly good egg" and by one female Tory MP as a "self-serving cunt". He has a pet tarantula called Kronos and pulls the same blandly menacing, toothy open-mouthed smile in every photo opportunity that comes his way. Senior Tories are said to be furious that Williamson is now a minister. He's out of his depth, unpopular and in charge of the nation's security.

This could have been a week about the government being tough on the perpetrators of sexual abuse. It could have been a week about a new direction for the armed forces. At the very least it could have been a week which shows Theresa May still has authority in a crisis. In the end, it was just more flailing around from a sitting-duck prime minister who seems to take neither Westminster abuse or the state of the armed forces particularly seriously when there is a political game to be played.

@Oscarrickettnow