Wednesday evening saw 10 Downing Street announce that Secretary of Defense Gavin Williamson had been dismissed for his role in leaking the contents of a National Security Council meeting to the public, a serious violation of government and ministerial protocol. The meeting had been primarily based around the participation of the Chinese telecommunication firm Huawei in the construction of Britain's 5G internet network.

Williamson, a foreign policy hardliner who had advocated a blanket ban on the Shenzhen company, had strongly opposed Theresa May's approval and subsequently sought to reveal its contents in order to sabotage her position as part of a longstanding foreign policy split within the British Conservative party. 

The prime minister has made the right decision to remove Williamson. Not only do politically motivated leaks to the press undermine Britain's national security strategy and policy coherence, but the former defense secretary's hawkish and belligerent views toward Brexit and China posed to severely undermine Britain's credibility and diplomatic influence on the global stage. Given the chaos of the pending departure from the European Union, now is the time for a security strategy based not on vain exceptionalism or religious devotion to the United States, but a cool, pragmatic and calculated determination of what is in Britain's national interests.

The Conservative party government is in the midst of a bitter division and factional struggle. In the aftermath of Brexit, the organization has been in a state of civil war over the broader vision of what Britain's foreign policy and place in the world should be.

There are two broad camps identifiable in the midst of the struggle. Firstly, there are the “Liberal Conservatives" or "Cameronites," who propose a pragmatic, economically orientated and liberal foreign policy approach, seeking to uphold meaningful ties with Europe as well as China. With Theresa May, Chancellor Phillip Hammond and their predecessors belonging to his faction, this group currently sustains the status quo.

On the other hand, there is the right-wing, arch-eurosceptic faction, who, driven by classical British exceptionalism, want to see the UK take a more assertive foreign policy in the world, taking a holistic vision of the country's global mission alongside that of the United States. Given this, they take a confrontational approach to Brexit, and they do not want to see Britain make any concessions to Europe, even pragmatic ones. They do not see economic considerations as a justification to deviate from their foreign policy idealism. Given this, they also desire for the UK to take a harder line against China in light of the Trump administration doing so.

The eurosceptic faction as a whole is disgruntled with Theresa May's performance pertaining to Brexit and has been dismayed at her withdrawal agreement. Since this, they have been working in an attempt to undermine her position and eventually install a more hardline leader. Gavin Williamson has been very much a part of this.

Although he was forced to pay lip service to the government's policy line owing to this position, he was nevertheless clearly discontent and sought to wrestle British security and defense policy rightwards. Attempting to bolster support for a harder Brexit, he publicly pledged what he termed a "hard power" strategy to make up for it. Stoking up nostalgia for Britain's imperial naval power of old, he sought to deploy an aircraft carrier to the South China Sea.

Then, of course, came Huawei. Williamson was very eager to follow the U.S. line and have it banned outright, only to be dismayed when the liberal faction and Theresa May sought a compromise, recognizing excluding the company would have been naïve and counterproductive. Unhappy with the direction the country was taking, he sought to leak the meeting to the press and whip up right-wing anger against the prime minister.

Given this, she is right to have gotten rid of him. It is fair to say that the right-wing faction of the Conservative party is undermining the country as a whole. Not only is the current Brexit situation largely their doing, but if they are allowed to hijack Britain's position against China toward confrontation, the diplomatic, strategic and economic fallout would be disastrous. In every sense, Britain would be left completely isolated, unable to rely singularly on an "America First" presidential administration content with tariffing his own allies.

Thus, the message is simple. His dismissal is the right move. Britain's foreign and security policies must be guided by pragmatism, rationality and a nuanced analysis of the country's broader interests. The right-wing faction of the government does not offer that. Without even needing to mention Huawei, it is clear that their nostalgic thirst for British exceptionalism and titular ambitions to wage war within the Conservative Party is completely undermining the country. He won't be missed.