On 15 March 2018 , in the wake of the Salisbury poisoning , Williamson answered a question about Russia 's potential response to the UK ′ s punitive measures against Russia by saying that " frankly , Russia should go away , and it should shut up " . Meanwhile , Major-General Igor Konashenkov , the spokesman of the Russian Defence Ministry , said : " The market wench talk that British defence secretary Gavin Williamson resorted to reflects his extreme intellectual impotency " . Williamson ′ s remark was quoted by the president of Ukraine , Petro Poroshenko , who posted a comment on his official Twitter account : " The Kremlin 's ' chemical attack ' in the UK is nothing but an encroachment on British sovereignty . And our message to Russia is the same as that of British defense secretary Gavin Williamson : ' shut up and go away ' . " In December 2018 , Williamson expressed " grave " and " very deep concerns " about the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei providing technology to upgrade Britain 's services to 5G . He accused China of acting " sometimes in a malign way " . China 's Defence Ministry spokesman Wu Qian criticised Williamson ’s comments , saying : " The remarks just reinforced the deep-rooted ignorance , prejudice and anxiety among some British people . " On 11 February 2019 , Williamson delivered the speech " Defence in Global Britain " at the Royal United Services Institute outlining the future direction of the British armed forces . The speech , among other things , outlined plans to send Britain 's new aircraft carrier to the Pacific ; the Chinese Government in turn cancelled trade talks with Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond and prompted Hammond to state that the decision to deploy the aircraft carrier was premature . '' The Mail on Sunday '' quoted an unnamed ally of Hammond comparing Williamson to Private Pike , a hapless character in the sitcom '' Dad 's Army ''
Salisbury poisoning
Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal
Gavin Williamson