His astonishing ‘F*** the PM’ memo
MR Williamson scrawled ‘F*** the Prime Minister’ across an official memo as his relationship with Downing Street deteriorated, it emerged last night.
Friends of the former defence secretary confirmed that he had written the aggressive message in frustration after Theresa May overruled his controversial decision to deploy the UK’s new aircraft carrier to the South China Sea.
Word of Mr Williamson’s angry response in February spread like wildfire around the Ministry of Defence and is said to have reached the ears of Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill, who would play a central role in his downfall.
Mr Williamson’s announcement that HMS Queen Elizabeth would be deployed to the South China Sea underlined his position as the Cabinet’s leading hawk on China’s expansionist policies. He said the UK had to be prepared to use ‘hard power’ against countries that ‘flout international law’, as critics claim Beijing has done in the disputed South China Sea.
The decision angered Beijing and caused consternation in Whitehall, where officials were eyeing up a potential trade deal with the communist giant. China’s rulers were so irritated that they cancelled a planned visit by the Chancellor Philip Hammond.
Downing Street responded by overruling Mr Williamson, with the PM’s official spokesman making it clear that she would make the ‘final decision’ on the route taken by the aircraft carrier when it is deployed to the Pacific.
The row highlighted the deteriorating relationship between Mrs May and the man who masterminded her 2016 leadership victory and forged an alliance with the DUP that kept her in power following the disastrous 2017 general election.
Mr Williamson had been one of Mrs May’s most trusted allies. But, as No 10 came to be dominated by Brexit, relations grew more strained.
The former Remainer became an increasingly vocal advocate of a hard Brexit. He was one of a handful of Cabinet ministers urging Mrs May to leave the EU without a deal if she could not get her plans through.