May fires defense official after Huawei leak
LONDON — British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday fired her defense secretary, Gavin Williamson, for allegedly leaking details about the Chinese telecom giant Huawei to the news media.
The abrupt sacking of Britain’s top defense official — over allegations by the prime minister herself that Mr. Williamson had breached the secrecy protocols of the National Security Council — was stunning. For a top government minister to be canned over such a leak is almost unprecedented in Britain.
The British political press quickly focused on the “Game of Thrones” atmosphere in Ms. May’s fractious government, riven by open divisions in her cabinet over Brexit and stoked by Ms. May’s weak leadership.
Mr. Williamson, who denies he is a leaker, is one of the many aspirants to replace Ms. May, who is seen as especially vulnerable over her failure to deliver a European Union exit plan. Whether she resigns in the coming months, as she has indicated she would do, or is ousted more quickly, is a point of debate.
Mr. Williamson’s sacking follows an investigation into information leaked to the British press about Chinese telecom Huawei’s role in building the Britain’s coming 5G internet.
After an April 23 meeting of Britain’s National Security Council, attended by intelligence chiefs and senior cabinet ministers, a story appeared on the front page of the Daily Telegraph that claimed that Ms. May had decided to permit Huawei to play a leading role in Britain’s future net.
Huawei is one of the world’s largest communications conglomerates, manufacturing mobile phones, tablets and computers — and assembling the software, routers and networks to operate Wi-Fi and highspeed internet.
At the same time, U.S. officials have been pressing allies to bar Huawei from building their nation’s super-fast 5G networks, fearful that Chinese cyberspies could tap user data through backdoor access.
Huawei has denied the accusations that it could be used to spy, but revelations about U.S. companies and their abilities to harvest user data have increased suspicions about what the Chinese could do if they were operating the switches.
In her public letter stating that Mr. Williamson had lost the confidence of the government, Ms. May wrote that an investigation into the leaks provided “compelling evidence suggesting your responsibility for the unauthorized disclosure.”
In his reply to Ms. May, Mr. Williamson denied that he was responsible. He said that he had turned down the offer to resign his post, as that would have meant accepting responsibility.
Mr. Williamson was replaced on Wednesday evening by Penny Mordaunt. She is Britain’s first female defense secretary.