UK PM blocked bid by sacked defense chief to 'invade' Africa: Report

A row between British Prime minister Theresa May and her former defense chief Gavin Williamson has intensified with reports suggesting May blocked the sacked minister’s plans to send contingents of troops to Africa.

The Sunday Times reported that Williamson, who was fired on Wednesday for disclosure of sensitive government discussions, had been eyeing an effective invasion of Africa with plans to send troops to “at least five African countries, including Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt.”

"He wanted to invade Africa,” said a source from the British ministry of defense who confirmed the report.

The report further claimed that Williamson resorted to abuse when May blocked his plans for a similar deployment of military forces to the South China Sea , where the United States and China are locked in a dispute, and wrote on paperwork "f*** the prime minister.”

May's diabetes

The report further alleged that Williamson was dumped over remarks he made about May's diabetes.

According to the Times, Williamson was ousted after repeatedly suggesting that May's Type-1 diabetes rendered her "unfit" for her job as prime minister.

“It’s absolutely outrageous that he would attempt to use the Prime Minister’s health condition against her and to suggest it makes her too frail and ill to be the Prime Minister,” said an ally of May.

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Williamson, a fierce pro-US Conservative politician, was sacked from his post after a government inquiry found that he was the source of a leak to the Daily Telegraph which showed May had allowed Chinese telecommunication company Huawei to have a part in building UK’s future internet infrastructure.

The leak prompted Washington to warn that it would halt sharing key intelligence with London if it continued cooperating with Huawei, a company banned from a similar project in the US due to concerns about its alleged links to Chinese state security.

Williamson dismisses allegations as 'crazy'

Williamson, who has rejected the government inquiry as a “witch hunt”, said on Sunday that briefings in newspapers about his relations with May were all lies.

He said he had never made derogatory comments about May’s diabetes and had never intended to invade Africa, adding that the claims were part of a classic smear campaign by May and her cabinet secretary, Mark Sedwill, to cover up their failure to come up with evidences about his role in the Huawei case.  

"It is absolutely crazy, on both counts ... Of course no one has ever suggested it. Classic PM/Sedwill smear because they don't have any evidence,” Williamson told the Sky News.

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