Boris Johnson has handed Gavin Williamson a return to the cabinet just weeks after he was sacked as defence secretary for allegedly leaking details from a national security council meeting.

Williamson has been appointed as education secretary, having run a brutally effective whipping operation for Johnson during the early stages of the Tory leadership contest, when MPs whittled down the runners and riders to two candidates.

He was sacked in May after a Whitehall probe found him guilty of leaking details of an NSC meeting at which Theresa May was said to have controversially given the green light to Chinese telecoms giant Huawei’s involvement in Britain’s 5G network.

Huawei has been accused of being a security risk as it is too closely controlled by the Chinese government – something the company denies.

Following his sacking, Williamson strenuously denied being the source of the leak and refused to resign, forcing then-PM May to sack him.

The Tory MP built up a fearsome reputation in Westminster during a stint as chief whip, when he kept a pet tarantula called Kronos on his desk.