British Prime Minister Theresa May dismissed Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson on Wednesday over allegations that he leaked information on national security discussions about the potential participation of China´s fifth-generation communications giant Huawei United Kingdom.
"The prime minister asked Gavin Williamson to leave the government this evening, having lost confidence in his ability to play his role as defense minister and as a member of her government," a government spokesman said.
The spokesman added that the May decision was the result of Williamson´s conduct of "investigating the circumstances of the unauthorized disclosure of information for a meeting of the National Security Council."
The British government published a letter from May to Williamson, "telling him that no other reliable story of events had been identified to explain this leak."
The National Security Council, headed by May, agreed to allow Huawei to help build "non-core" infrastructure such as antennas for the new fifth-generation network in Britain, the Daily Telegraph reported last week.
Britain and other countries are debating whether to exclude Chinese company Huawei from expanding its fifth-generation network amid suspicions that the company has very close ties to the Chinese government, claims Huawei rejects.
