Williamson’s clash with top official over failure to investigate Afghan troops leak

SIR MARK SEDWILL, the man behind the leak inquiry that led to Gavin Williamson’s sacking, has been accused of refusing to investigate a leak that put soldiers’ lives in danger.

Allies of the former minister said Sir Mark declined to intervene when a newspaper reported that the Ministry of Defence was to increase the number of soldiers in Afghanistan.

Mr Williamson was so concerned the story could compromise troop safety that he tried to issue a D-notice, a mechanism to stop newspapers reporting highly sensitive security issues.

Sir Mark, however, declined to instigate a leak inquiry. The incident in May last year was one of a series of clashes between Mr Williamson and the Cabinet Secretary that Mr Williamson and his allies believe to have been the driving force behind the leak inquiry that eventually led to his sacking by the Prime Minister on Wednesday.

Theresa May last night broke her silence on the issue, saying his dismissal had been “the right decision”.

Mr Williamson denies leaking information about her decision to allow Huawei to bid for 5G mobile network contracts, which had been discussed in the National Security Council. His supporters claimed that Sir Mark had told a meeting of senior civil servants that he was the source of the leak even before the inquiry had begun.

They also questioned why Sir Mark had reacted so furiously to the Huawei leak – which, according to Downing Street, did not constitute a breach of the Official Secrets Act – when he had refused to investigate what they regarded as a far more serious security breach.

Sir Mark also decided not to call in police over a story about Shamima Begum, the jihadi bride, sewing terrorists into suicide vests, which was based on information classified as top secret; or an article about Sally Jones, the “white widow”, being killed by a drone, which was based on a CIA report passed to UK intelligence.

Last May The Sun discovered Mr Williamson had asked Mrs May to authorise increasing personnel in Afghanistan from 450 to 650. Mr Williamson was concerned a newspaper report might compromise troop safety as the Army had not yet put in place “force protection measures”. When The Sun contacted the MOD for comment Mr Williamson tried to obtain the D-notice.

A source close to Mr Williamson said: “Gavin wrote to Sir Mark even before the story appeared saying there had to be a leak investigation, and followed up with another letter when Sir Mark did nothing. But he just kept ignoring it.”

Sir Mark did instigate an inquiry at Mrs May’s behest to find out the source of the Daily Telegraph’s Huawei report this week following a National Security Council meeting attended by ministers including Mr Williamson. Mrs May sacked him after saying there was “compelling evidence” that he was the source of the information and that he had not fully cooperated with the inquiry. Last night she told ITN: “I took the decision that I did. That was the right decision.”

The Williamson camp claims the only evidence with which he was confronted was his own admission that he had spoken to The Telegraph, which, he had told Mrs May, was about another matter, and his failure to sign a consent form before he was questioned by the Government’s head of security.

Government sources confirmed Mr Williamson had written to Sir Mark but said the information was not secret and so widely known it did not merit an inquiry. “We do not comment on the detail of leak investigations,” they added.

‘Gavin wrote to Sir Mark before the story appeared … but Sir Mark did nothing. He just kept ignoring it’