British Prime Minister Theresa May fired Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson on Wednesday over leaked information about the government's decision to grant Chinese telecommunications company Huawei access to Britain's 5G network.
May's office said it "lost confidence in his ability to serve" after determining he leaked the information to the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
"The Prime Minister's decision has been informed by his conduct surrounding an investigation into the circumstances of the unauthorized disclosure of information from a meeting of the U.K. National Security Council," a letter from May's office said.
May told Williamson of her decision during a meeting Wednesday evening. He denied involvement in the leak.
{"preview_thumbnail":"https://cdn.flowplayer.com/6684a05f-6468-4ecd-87d5-a748773282a3/i/v-i-f…","video_id":"f629f000-de62-4137-84cf-25354e3d0422","player_id":"8ca46225-42a2-4245-9c20-7850ae937431","provider":"flowplayer","video":"1.2 Million Iraqis Displaced in The Country"}
"I appreciate you offering me the option to resign, but to resign would have been to accept that I, my civil servants, my military advisers or my staff were responsible: this was not the case," Williamson said in a letter to May.
The prime minister's office replaced Williamson with Penny Mordaunt, former international development secretary.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
