Had his chips: Gavin Williamson posted this picture of himself in McDonald’s last night
Gavin Williamson has received the backing of more than 200 Conservative MPs since his brutal sacking by Theresa May, friends revealed last night.
Amid mounting Tory unease at Mr Williamson’s dramatic ejection from the Cabinet, allies of the former defence secretary said around two-thirds of the party had sent him supportive messages.
He is also understood to have received a consolatory call from DUP leader Arlene Foster, whose MPs prop up Mrs May’s Government.
Mr Williamson, who was sacked on Wednesday for allegedly leaking information from the National Security Council about Chinese firm Huawei – allegations he strenuously denies – is now mulling whether to make a potentially explosive speech in the Commons as he fights to clear his name.
He told the Mail last night: ‘I have been royally screwed over – it is pretty painful. The only thing I want to do now is clear my name.’
Downing Street had reportedly decided that Mr Williamson was guilty of leaking 48 hours before he was given an ultimatum of quitting or being sacked.
Sources told The Times that it was apparent on Monday that Mr Williamson no longer had a place in Theresa May’s government – two days before he was sacked.
A cabinet source had said: ‘Everyone knew [Mr Williamson] was a serial leaker so the onus was on him to disprove it. The test is whether he has the prime minister’s confidence.
‘That is the only test that needs to be applied.’
Mr Williamson is now mulling whether to make a potentially explosive speech in the Commons as he fights to clear his name
Downing Street has refused to publish details of the report into the leak that sealed Mr Williamson’s fate
Downing Street has refused to publish details of the report into the leak that sealed Mr Williamson’s fate. Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill, who oversaw the inquiry, has also resisted calls to ask the police to investigate, despite opposition claims that the leak – which revealed secret details of Huawei’s involvement in the UK’s 5G mobile network – constituted a breach of the Official Secrets Act which can carry a two-year jail term.
Mr Williamson has claimed Sir Mark was engaged in a ‘vendetta’ against him amid suggestions that he found him guilty before the inquiry even began. One Whitehall source yesterday said Sir Mark had told a meeting of officials on the morning the Huawei leak was reported that he believed Mr Williamson was guilty.
‘Sedwill was telling people last Wednesday that Gavin was guilty,’ the source said. ‘It raised a few eyebrows because at that stage no one can have known.’
Mr Williamson and Sir Mark are known to have clashed in recent months.
The Cabinet Secretary, who also serves as the PM’s national security adviser, was said to be ‘sore’ after coming off second-best during a clash over defence spending last year when Mr Williamson secured more cash for conventional forces at a time when Sir Mark was pushing for the money to be invested in cyber defences.
One source said: ‘Gavin and Mark basically agreed on 90 per cent of things.
‘In most relationships that would be enough for two people to get along.
‘But Mark is someone who if you are not 100 per cent with him, he sees you as being 100 per cent against him.’
Yesterday, Parliament’s cross-party National Security Committee demanded that Sir Mark, Britain’s top civil servant, hand over the evidence that led to Mr Williamson’s sacking.
Labour MP Dame Margaret Beckett, who chairs the committee, told Sir Mark that MPs had to be ‘apprised of the outcomes of this leak inquiry,’ adding: ‘This directly pertains to our work in scrutinising the National Security Council.’
The involvement of Huawei in the rollout of the high-speed, next-generation 5G network is highly controversial. The Chinese firm insists it is a private company, but ministers have been told that the security services judge it to be under the control of Beijing’s communist regime. The United States, which has banned Huawei from its networks, has warned that intelligence sharing with the UK could be jeopardised if the deal goes ahead.
No 10 yesterday denied tensions between Mr Williamson and Sir Mark had coloured the inquiry. A spokesman said the investigation, led by the Government’s chief security officer Dominic Fortescue, had been conducted ‘fairly and impartially’.
In the PM’s letter to Mr Williamson on Wednesday night, she said the investigation had found ‘compelling evidence’ that he was the source of the leak.
But the former defence secretary has told friends the only evidence produced against him by the PM was an 11-minute phone call with the Daily Telegraph journalist who reported the leak. The inquiry is said to have found that the reporter later spoke to ‘several’ other ministers and officials who attended the National Security Council meeting on April 23.
Mr Williamson, who was refused access to the inquiry’s findings, pointed out that he had reported the phone call himself and flatly denied divulging any details of the Government’s dealings with Huawei.
Mrs May yesterday said it had been a ‘difficult decision’ to sack Mr Williamson, adding: ‘This was not about what was leaked, but where it was leaked from. It was the importance of the question of trust around that National Security Council table.’
But she ducked a direct question about whether she was ‘convinced’ that Mr Williamson was responsible, telling ITV News: ‘I took the decision I did. It was the right decision.’