London: Gavin Williamson, Theresa May’s chief whip, has often been likened to the Francis Urquhart, the ruthless parliamentary enforcer in Westminster TV drama House of Cards.

The 41-year-old MP has made a rapid rise to the top over the last seven years with the help of naked ambition with a penchant for theatrical power play.

Although his name is not familiar outside Westminster, he is best known within SW1 for keeping a tarantula called Cronus in a glass box on his desk, seemingly to intimidate MPs who stepped out of line.

The creature is named after the Greek god who came to power by castrating his own father before eating his own children to ensure they wouldn’t oust him. Williamson’s reputation for a slightly menacing manner was burnished at Conservative party conference, where he told delegates: “I don’t very much believe in the stick, but it’s amazing what can be achieved with a sharpened carrot.”

One cabinet minister last month described him to the Guardian as a “chop-your-head-off type of man”.

However, many Tory backbenchers are unimpressed with the promotion of someone they see as slippery and a government toady who has deliberately cultivated an image as a modern-day Machiavelli.

Williamson has remained personally unblemished by any taint of the sleaze scandal engulfing Westminster but some MPs are also unhappy to see him entering cabinet when they view the whips’ office as the problem at the heart of covering up sexual harassment and abuse.

Nevertheless, his approach to politics appears to have swiftly won May’s approval — surprisingly since he is one of the few former allies of David Cameron to have earned her trust.

Born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, he was comprehensively educated before going on to gain a degree in social science at Bradford University. Williamson then worked for a while in the pottery industry and for an architectural design firm before being elected MP for South Staffordshire in 2010 at the age of 33.

Just a few years after his election, Williamson was given a sought-after job as Cameron’s parliamentary aide, acting as his eyes and ears among MPs. But when Cameron stepped down, Williamson quickly threw his lot in with May as the most effective stop-Boris candidate and was adopted as her campaign manager.

Having impressed her with his organisation skills, he was unexpectedly elevated to the senior job of chief whip, despite not having previously served as a minister.

Williamson immediately made himself useful by becoming pivotal in the deal May’s minority government struck with the Democratic Unionist party (DUP).

Since then, he has earned her respect for managing difficult parliamentary votes with the slimmest of DUP-backed majorities. Williamson’s move into the cabinet appears to position him as a potential Conservative leader when May eventually stands down, but the backlash among MPs suggests the prime minister may have overreached herself in promoting a personal favourite over more experienced colleagues.

— Guardian News & Media Ltd