The new defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, was put on notice in the Commons that he will face a substantial Tory revolt if a national security review leads to major cuts in the armed services.



Williamson, making his Commons debut in his new job, faced Conservative backbenchers who pressed him to stand up to the chancellor, Philip Hammond, over a threatened squeeze on the MoD budget.



Profile Who is Gavin Williamson? Show Before Westminster Born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, he had a comprehensive education before going on to gain a degree in social science at the University of Bradford. Williamson then worked for a while in the pottery industry and for an architectural design firm before being elected MP for South Staffordshire in 2010 at the age of 33. A rapid rise Just a few years after his election, Williamson became David Cameron’s parliamentary aide, acting as his eyes and ears among MPs. But when Cameron stepped down, Williamson quickly threw his lot in with Theresa May as the most effective stop-Boris candidate and was adopted as her campaign manager. Having impressed with his organisational skills, he was elevated to chief whip, despite not having previously served as a minister. Appointed defence secretary After becoming pivotal in the deal with the Democratic Unionist party (DUP), Williamson earned May's respect for managing difficult parliamentary votes with the slimmest of DUP-backed majorities. His move into the cabinet after Sir Michael Fallon resigned over allegations of sexual harassment appeared to position him as a potential Conservative leader, but the backlash among MPs was significant. Spider man In Westminster he kept a tarantula called Cronus in a glass box on his desk, seemingly to intimidate MPs who had stepped out of line. The creature is named after the Greek god who came to power by castrating his own father before eating his own children to ensure they would not oust him. Gaffes in office Known for his colourful Instagram posts, Williamson was involved in a series of gaffes as defence secretary. As well as clashing with the prime minister over the publication of the government’s defence review, he angered the Chinese enough for them to cancel a trade trip by chancellor Philip Hammond, and was called 'the minister for war' by a Russian minister after his comments about the Skripal poisoning.



Good Morning Britain presenter Richard Madeley once cut off a live interview with him after he repeatedly refused to answer a question. It was all enough to earn him the nickname 'Private Pike' in Whitehall, in reference to the hapless youth in the sitcom Dad’s Army

Downfall Williamson was sacked as defence secretary by Theresa May after she "lost confidence in his ability to serve in the role of defence secretary and as a member of her cabinet". The move followed an investigation into who leaked sensitive National Security Council discussions about the Chinese company Huawei's involvement in the UK's 5G network infrastructure. Williamson has denied being the source of the leak, saying he was the victim of a 'kangaroo court'.

The threatened rebellion is over a Cabinet Office review of the UK’s national security, originally scheduled to report in December but now delayed until January or February. The review includes the intelligence services MI5, MI6 and the surveillance agency GCHQ but the MoD, with by far the biggest budget, £36bn, is facing the brunt of proposed cuts.

One of the strongest warnings to Williamson came from Conservative MP James Gray, who said the Cabinet Office needed to be told the review should not be some kind of camouflage to cut the services.



“Will he speak to the chancellor of the exchequer to make sure he digs deep into his pockets to produce the money we need? Above all, will he speak to the chief whip to remind him that if he does not do so, he will face a very substantial rebellion?” Gray said.

British defence reviews have followed a predictable pattern down the decades: proposed defence cuts prompt an outcry from Conservative backbenchers, backed by retired generals and admirals.



The Cabinet Office review is of a different order, addressing a more fundamental question: whether British armed forces are still relevant to conflict in a world in which cyber-warfare, robots, drones and artificial intelligence are becoming increasingly important.



Part of this is whether, after a spate of terrorist attacks and plots in the UK this year, the focus should now be more on counter-terrorism than on potential threats from states such as Russia and China.

The MoD has drawn up a list for cuts that includes two ships that help with amphibious landings, HMS Bulwark and HMS Albion; reducing the number of marines from 7,000 to 6,000; delaying or cutting back on the number of F-35 jets to be bought for two new aircraft carriers; and scaling back an ambitious army plan to deploy a 30,000 strong-division by 2025.

The MoD says no decisions have yet been taken.



Williamson, who only took over as defence secretary from Michael Fallon earlier this month, largely sidestepped a series of questions from Conservative and opposition backbenchers about the review.

One of the few hints he gave of his position was when he said the world was rapidly changing but the threats came not just from cyber attacks but from Britain’s peers, by which he meant Russia.

Williamson admitted he had not yet met the chancellor to make the MoD case against cuts.

Julian Lewis, the Conservative chair of the Commons defence committee, said Williamson should remind the chancellor that during the cold war the UK spent 5% of GDP on defence, is now barely 2% and a target nearer to 3% would help prevent UK forces from being hollowed out.



Williamson said he regarded 2% as a base rather than a ceiling.

Gen Sir Richard Barrons, who retired last year as chief of joint forces command, suspects, shares the view of backbenchers that the review is an excuse to squeeze the defence budget, which he argues is already about £1.5bn to £2bn short a year.

“There is a school of thought led by some who are at the heart of the previous Conservative administration that believes the conventional military is post-history and all that matters now is cyber and the only thing that matters is keeping terrorism away from our shores,” Barrons said.



“No one can doubt the urgency of dealing with terrorism but if you look at the actual effect of terrorism, it is quite small and arguably diminishing. We should keep it in perspective.”

