UK Defence Secretary Williamson sacked over Huawei leak

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson was sensationally sacked on Thursday night over the leak from a National Security Council meeting debating Huawei's assistance with the UK's 5G telecoms network.

Prime Minister Theresa May called Williamson in to her House of Commons office to present him with the evidence of his alleged misconduct and ask him to resign. The defence secretary refused, forcing her to fire him.

Williamson, who has been in post since 2017, later hit back, and "strenuously" denied leaking the information and described the inquiry as a "witch hunt" and "kangaroo court" as he said a police investigation would have cleared him.

He was replaced by Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt.

In her letter to Williamson, May said, she was "concerned by the manner in which you have engaged with this investigation".

"It has been conducted fairly, with the full co-operation of other NSC attendees. They have all answered questions, engaged properly, provided as much information as possible to assist with the investigation, and encouraged their staff to do the same. Your conduct has not been of the same standard as others," she wrote.

"In our meeting this evening, I put to you the latest information from the investigation, which provides compelling evidence suggesting your responsibility for the unauthorised disclosure."

"No other credible version of events to explain this leak has been identified."

In his letter of response Williamson said he was "confident" that a "thorough and formal inquiry" would have "vindicated" his position.

"I appreciate you offering me the option to resign, but to resign would have been to accept that I, my civil servants, my military advisers or my staff were responsible: this was not the case," he said.

The Daily Telegraph obtained details of discussions at the NSC, including the claim that the May overruled several ministers, to allow the Chinese firm to be involved in building parts of the 5G network.

Williamson was among those reported to have raised concerns, together with the home secretary, Sajid Javid, the foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, the international trade secretary, Liam Fox, and Mordaunt.

All of them subsequently became suspects, and all issued strong denials of being the culprit.